The Prince and the Soldier Girls
by Danny Barefoot
Summary: The Tiger of Vers, Countess Slaine Troyard. The White Prince, Asseylum Vers Allusia. The Japanese Athena, Kaizuka Kei. Genderbent Aldnoah. Same story. Different ending? Warnings for attempted rape, physical abuse and violence (I don't own any of these series, A-1 Pictures, Olympus Knights and the copyright holders do). Chpt 11 - Epilogue. A future of dreams.
1. Be a Man

"Miss Troyard! You look lovelier than ever. Hasn't it been too long?"

"Highness!" Her toolbox clattered over the hanger's steel floor, as Slaine leapt to attention, "Such an honour, to see your Highness again!"

"Nonsense, we're old friends, are we not? And true friendship endures–on my honour!–come what may."

The young prince of the Vers Empire was casually dressed in a white shirt and waistcoat. A halo of corn-gold hair flowed down his neck. Slaine's eye moved from his cheerful smile to his parted top buttons. How could his face seem so soft, and his chest so firm? She was painfully conscious of the muscles harsh training had layered over her slim frame, and the unflattering looseness of her jacket. A strange feeling; attention from any Versian but her Prince was chest -twisting horror.

Blood burning in pale cheeks, she quickly dropped to one knee, hand over her breast. Her hair was clipped back, as per military regulations; ash-blonde wisps still trembled as she lowered her head.

"Your Highness; what do you require of me? I was studying this Sky Carrier's engine…"

"Oh, I've had enough of soldierly matters from Cruhteo. Miss Troyard; allow me to escort you to the viewing deck. I've long wished to gaze upon your wondrous birthplace, at your side."

Asseylum offered Slaine his hand, brought her to her feet. His puppy-bright eyes came so close, she might have fainted, and his scent…across the hanger, other soldiers were whispering. The Prince's small page looked daggers at her, when he was directed to amuse himself for an hour.

"I trust the common soldiers treat you with proper courtesy?" The Prince asked Slaine, as they took a lift down to the viewing deck. She murmured something vague, "Then stay by my side, as much as you can. That should show teach them the respect you deserve. Not only as a precious link between Terra and Vers, but as my precious friend."

-0-

-0-

They had begun like a fairytale. She was lost and drowning. The handsome prince had saved her with his kiss. Brought her to his dusky, vaulted palace, to teach him of flowers and birds. They had shared precious days, as those green, gorgeous eyes drank in all she revealed of her home. He had told her all his dreams of peace with Earth. The stories of chivalry he loved. He said she made him believe he could do anything. He said her white hair looked magical; that the seas of Terra must be as lovely as her eyes. He was her gracious, gentle hero, and he was all she would ever need.

From jealousy as much as prejudice, Versian servants had threatened and taunted her–but why suffer in silence, when her dear prince stood ready for her defence? It was dreadful that one of the maids was sent to an ice-mining settlement in disgrace. But the bullying stopped, and Prince Asseylum promised; in future, he would be her protector. She couldn't even speak to her Daddy about such troubles. She wouldn't, when he barely cared to remember her–or even to feed himself and sleep, however she tried to plead with him.

On a cold planet of barking soldiery and hostile eyes, Prince Asseylum heard her. Something simple as the habits of bees could bring an exquisite smile to his soft, angelic face. He was warmth and life itself to Slaine. She couldn't imagine that he would fail to bring peace to Vers, or fail in anything he meant to do. When her father's death blew the ground from under her feet, the prince had petitioned his Grandfather on her behalf before the funeral's end.

Of course, a Terran girl could not be the prince's tutor forever. The Emperor had referred the matter to his science minister; the elderly Count had found one of his barons willing to take charge of Slaine. The Baron had actually been very willing; he had comforted the young girl at the funeral, and would train her to continue Dr Troyard's unfinished research. Slaine might have preferred to study Botany and Zoology, but would have accepted any vocation gladly from her prince's hand.

For a week, the Baron had treated her well. He took tea with her every evening, gave her lovely dresses and considerable advice about proper feminine manners. Then the evening came when Slaine set down her teacup, raised her eyes, and he was standing above her. Pressing his livid lips to her mouth.

"NO! Mmph...no! No! I'll tell the Prince–!"

"And who would be believed, Terran? A noble of Vers, or some common wench? I'm going to cure you of that pride." Fingers that had pinned her arms clawed away fabric. Skin. Something deeper "Ha! I'd wager the prince wouldn't even recall your name! And what would that whelp even know of this? Ah…mmm…"

"Eeugh…! The Prince does known! I–I taught him this!"

The baron froze. He stared as if Slaine had changed from a girl to a venomous snake under his hands. She stared back, with eyes colder than Arctic seas.

"You…seduced his Highness? You Terran whore, I'll tell him you seduced me, and–!"

"–and he'll believe me. My prince is a romantic, a very passionate boy. He will make your whole clan grub in the dirt, if you lay a finger on his woman. That's me!"

"…if…if you tell him…" The Baron's face was almost purple, and drenched in sweat. Slaine composed her dress, walked away to her quarters, collapsed on silk sheets. Groaning as if her bowels had been ripped away, like innocence and humanity.

Of course it was all lies. Except in breathless daydreams, the Prince had never done more than kiss her hand. They were barely teenagers! But for a Terran girl on Vers, that seemed to be no defence.

A fortnight later, Prince Asseylum invited Slaine back to the palace for tea and a chat–the Baron's expression when he heard was priceless. Slaine sat in silence, dropped the tea things, and truly meant to tell him what had happened. No one else, from the Emperor down, would care to guard a common girl's safety over the nobility's reputation.

But she couldn't. How would he look at her? He would never believe such things could be done by a Versian baron. He scarcely believed that sex existed outside marriage–he was so pure and good!

And she had slandered him with a filthy lie, to save herself. If the rumour spread, it would damage his standing; even his real authority over the 37 Clans. She couldn't meet his shining eyes. She no longer deserved to.

-0-

-0-

By the month's end, the rumour was all over the palace. As soon as Prince Asseylum heard, he rushed to kneel before Slaine.

"Miss Troyard, this is entirely my fault. I've been too familiar, damaged your reputation...I sincerely apologise."

"No! Not for our time together…" Slaine fought for the words in vain, "…nothing could be more precious, Highness! I…"

"Dear Slaine, please don't flatter me," Asseylum gave a rueful smile that turned Slaine's heart to steam, "I clearly have much to learn before I can bring peace between our worlds–that marvellous dream we shared together."

The prince quickly proved that he had much to learn, by an official statement denying any illicit relationship, condemning all rumour-mongers, and forbidding any further slander of 'An innocent maiden, fled for refuge under the wings of Versian honour and gallantry'.

When Slaine was next invited to the palace, the eyes on her were different. Not only contempt, but hatred, from every soul who believed a Terran wench had seduced their Versian prince. When servants answered the prince himself, it was without respect…she fled from the palace, back to the house where she had been assaulted.

The same day, Count Saazbaum advised the Emperor that relocating Miss Troyard, as far from the palace as possible, might be a politic action.

"Out of sight, out of mind, you might say. I believe you leave for Earth orbit this week, Cruhteo? I wouldn't let the girl come to serious harm, though. If the Prince heard of it, he might do something desperate."

"Cruhteo?" Rayregalia wheezed. The blonde Count indicated that he heard and obeyed, then stalked out.

"By the way, Sire," Saazbaum went on, "Regarding the Baron Miss Troyard was placed with. My agents have evidence that he means to pass Aldnoah secrets to Terra. If he were to be accused of insulting the sovereign and stripped of his title, it would avoid any possible embarrassment."

"Very well, Saazbaum. Your advice is sound as always."

-0-

-0-

"Unlike you profligate Terrans, we Versians find a use for our filthiest rubbish. You will be an asset to Vers, ready to give your life for her glory. Or else you will find that your miserable life becomes very unpleasant."

So Private Slaine Troyard found herself an enlisted man of the Vers Imperial Forces. Orbiting earth in a giant metal cylinder, filled to the brim with Versian men. She was terrified at first, but whether due to persistent rumours or Cruhteo's severe view of miscegenation, she was not assaulted again. What she did face was punishment at the least excuse, PT until she puked, and the focused hate of every man and woman in Castle Cruhteo. It was as much a prison as a fortress. Locked up in the airless night, 35,000 miles above the shining world of their enemy, they fell on the Terran girl like cats that kill their food by inches.

From Cruhteo down, every officer in the Castle found a reason to hit her. She had to stand for hours in the Castle's unheated sections, clean floors with the Third-class serfs, and take insults whispered from every corner or screamed in her face. Her intimate habits…her smell…her parentage…and the one they only spoke with their eyes.

The prince's Terran whore. Her lie. She had no strength to resist. It was the punishment she deserved.

The other female soldiers had the most venomous words. On the worst day, someone emptied her box of sanitary pads, and she had to stand through reveille with blood dripping from her crotch. As Cruhteo wrinkled his nose, and her rank fought down laughter, Slaine had felt something in her eyes go hard and dull.

"Are you some kind of filthy animal, Troyard?" Her sergeant bawled, "Are you a worthless Terran dog? Well?"

"Yes, sir! I am…a worthless Terran dog. But for the honour of Vers, I will do better!"

The sergeant punched her in the stomach. She had bent up, then straightened back to attention, staring him in the face. Cruhteo raised an eyebrow.

Then the unit proceeded with reveille, and the morning floggings; three soldiers for various infractions. As always, Count Cruhteo watched them all. Afterwards, he assigned Slaine private quarters in a store cupboard, and had the pad thief uncovered and lashed.

Because they themselves couldn't endure, Slaine understood, the soldiers treated her so cruelly. Cruhteo was strict, but honourable, and his bearing was a lion's. She found herself dreaming of his strong face, beside her Prince's caring eyes, through the lonely nights in her sleeping bag. She would stare at her Father's pendant–all that remained of his hopes. Remember her brilliant Daddy, her shining Prince, and how unworthy of them she had been.

No more fairytale. No one would save her. She did not deserve to be saved. But she could not be weak. For the Prince who had smiled for her, sheltered a homeless helpless girl, she would not be worthless. For her one lost angel, she would survive. Living day by day, on the smile that burnt in her heart.

As the years passed, she learned self-defence, pistol and rifle shooting; even how to repair and pilot a Sky Carrier. The thought of soaring through clear skies like an eagle stirred her heart from misery (even if she would never glide in her Prince's arms over a dance floor, with soaring heart). She had to sneak onto the simulator in sleeping hours, but when Cruhteo saw her grades he approved her for pilot training.

"It seems you might become more than rubbish, Troyard. However–it will be your loyalty to our glorious kingdom, not your skills, that truly determine the issue."

"Yes, my lord!" Slaine bowed, with one hand above her soaring heart.

The next time he slapped her, it hurt twice as much; she groaned, but did not cry out.

She would survive, because chivalry and love were not dead. Had been shown even to her, by the prince of Vers–once upon a time. So she would endure. A soldier serving in his army, with a heart full of love. She might never have deserved a protecting prince, but she would make herself strong, until she needed no protection. Until neither words, eyes or fists could give any pain that she could feel.

And one day, even if it took her life, she might serve her Prince. If not as his friend, his devoted servant. One day, she might gaze upon his smile again, without shame.

And that day came, two years later. To be called his friend was wonderful…even if he remained innocent of her lie. Knew nothing of her wretched weakness. As the prince gazed down on the Earth, smiling like a golden puppy, Slaine found a little smile on her lips. When he had gone, Cruhteo seized her by the neck.

"Will you never learn your place, Terran? Still, if you must consort with his Highness...use your influence to dissuade him from travelling to Earth."

"Influence, my Lord?" The Count backhanded her to the carpet.

"Don't make me say the words."

It was the only order Slaine disobeyed. How could she discourage her prince from the noble dream of his life? She gave him her father's pendant–the prayers of peace that were all she had to give. Watched his ship descend to Earth, with parting tears.

Days later, she stood in Shinawara centre. Looked on the spot where a missile had blown his life out.

-0-

-0-

Baron Trillram had been given a free choice of Cruhteo's pilots, and had chosen Slaine. Apart from the chance to kill her former countrymen before her, he had a stare that made her flesh crawl and her breathing go manic. He had probably hoped to end his mission by dragging Slaine into some ruin, and enjoying her as a kind of side-dish to treacherous murder.

Of course, it hardly turned out like that. Shooting him down felt so good it scared her. Hours later, Slaine sat in her cupboard, staring at the gun in both her hands. She felt emptied. Strong. Her prince was alive, she had never needed him so much…she had no idea what she might do next.

"My prince. How can I find you again? Before it's too late for us…"


	2. The Prince's Progress

As Sir Vlad's hands flew for his throat, Asseylum was unperturbed. He dropped backward, flinging Vlad over his head, before the knight knew which way was up. A whirlpool of limbs across the sparring mat ended with Vlad's arms pinned, and the prince winning their final round. The onlookers, Slaine among them, applauded.

"Magnificent, your Highness!" Defeated before the whole Castle, Vlad should have been furious with shame. But he felt only awe and pride that his nation was led by such a prodigy.

"A mere friendly match," Asseylum smiled, "Were I not your Prince, your strength would doubtless have prevailed."

In fact, Count Cruhteo had ordered Vlad not to hold back. If the young heir were proved unable to defend himself, his wretched Terran visit might've been shelved…hiding his frustration, Cruhteo moved to express astonishment at the Prince's skill.

"A ruler must be ready to fight and die for his people, Count Cruhteo. If I alone could resolve every dispute of Vers and Terra, by a duel against their finest warrior–I could dream of nothing more. But it would not serve to bring peace, and nor would war. Only trust, understanding, and respect will give us the future, and these I go to Earth to find!"

Slaine cried out something fortunately lost in the applause. Everyone always applauded the Prince; but only the Terran alley-cat's voice (Cruhteo noted) had cheered for 'peace' with any sincerity. No wonder the young Prince was as much plotted against as loved, among the 37 Clans. But to Cruhteo, he was simply the anointed heir. Leaders were for reverence, underlings for obedience, and barbarians for execration, in the famous loyalist's coolly ordered universe. Hence, a skilled, loyal Terran such as Slaine was nothing but grit in a pocketwatch to him, as were the peaceful predications of his master. He hoped fervently that both would disappear in the fullness of time

Afterwards, the Prince changed into his personal white uniform for dinner with Castle Cruhteo's officers; his heavy red cloak hung behind his chair. Cruhteo had complied with his request for a view of the Earth.

"To think you can look on this each morning, Count Cruhteo! So much water and air, light itself is bent…is it not humbling, even to us?"

"I find it but melancholy, Highness," The Count sniffed at his glass of Earth-imported water, "A planet bloated with riches–wasted utterly, on a false and decadent race. I swear to you, Highness, they mean nothing by treaties or trade deals but treachery!"

"Then we must show there is no need for treachery. That the Imperial family, and their loyal supporters, desire peace. Frankly, Vers cannot advance without trade from Earth. Our power may not last if our people stave, Count. Nor would we deserve to keep it."

"But if we only made war!" Sir Vlad burst out, "We might seize all we need, and vindicate our honour for all time! Highness! Lead us against the Terran dogs, as your royal father did!" Asseylum's smile did not change, but Vlad suddenly knew the meaning of fear.

"Honest Sir Vlad. Is it honour to provide for the commons who serve and look to us? Or is it honour to cast human lives away by the million? I am my father's heir. Not my father."

-0-

-0-

Much later, when the Prince had paid for his dreams with his life, and Sir Vlad had avenged wasted greatness on most of the Areion force of Kanto, Cruhteo's knight was bested by Orange kataphrakts. On his return to Castle Cruhteo for repairs, he gruffly recounted his misfortunes to a visibly fraught Slaine Troyard. The impudence of the Terran wench had always annoyed him, but that had been clearly knocked out of her by the Prince's death. The week's events had hit her hard; honestly, he had always pitied her.

"I wanted to go into battle," She stammered out, pale cheeks attractively flushed, "For the Prince. To avenge him..."

"Hmph. I may mention it to our lord, if there is any opening." Vlad growled, "Of course, we're wiping out the Terrans, almost with no loss. The best you can do, as a Terran woman? Bear Martian children, to drag the descendants of those vermin from their rat holes."

"C-Count Cruhteo wouldn't allow..."

"When we have a planet to fill with True Humanity, some things may change. A pity if nothing did, hmm? A true waste."

Interpreting Slaine's stiff and hasty retreat as a renewed commitment to discipline, Vlad turned back to his steed. He roared at the Third Class mechanics to work faster. A few Terran Kats were defending refugee camps, some miles from Tokyo; he would restore his honour by wiping them out.

Later still, after Slaine used the Audience Chamber to plead with the Emperor, before she escaped the castle, she didn't even try to pin down Vlad's pilot. Definitely not to charm them. She only shot the man in the leg.

-0-

-0-

Three days before the crown prince of Vers came to Shinawara, Kaizuka Kei was staring blankly out the window of a bus. As they passed the sites of weed-splattered buildings levelled in Heaven's Fall, her two best friends were studying her tablet.

"Hey, Inko," Nina whispered, "Have you seen the photos of the Martian prince? Isn't he dreamy?"

"Hmm...yeah, total hottie. What do you think, Kei?"

"Hmm…ah. That sale on plain sweaters is this Friday."

"Ugh! Don't you wear anything else?"

"Skirts, socks, underwear…" Kei deadpanned.

"You know what I mean!" Nina swatted her friend with the tablet, "You should think about cute clothes, and nice boys, if we ever find any…hey! What if the prince has to make peace with us by marrying an Earth girl?"

"Even if the Martians wanted a Terran future Empress, you'd have to live on Mars." As always, Kei looked entirely serious, "Temperatures range from 20 to minus 153 degrees, and I hear the people can be unfriendly."

Nina and Inko laughed at that. The trio spent the rest of the bus ride talking about upcoming tests. Kei had just displaced Inko as top of the school, and Nina was usually top ten; she only looked and sounded like a dumb blonde.

"Your lunch is nice as always, Kei," Inko told her later, as they pushed their classroom desks together, "Nutritious and delicious."

"I learned from the best." Kei stated quietly. Inko squeezed her hand with a motherly smile.

Years after Heaven's Fall, Inko's family's deli had all but saved Kei and her sister from starving. Nina glanced at them a little sadly. Her early years in America had been even worse, but the bond of her friends' shared hardships was irreplaceable. Inko noticed her discomfort, and stroked her head.

"Excuse me? Kaizuka-san?" Kei looked blankly round at the classes' second Canadian student, Calm Craftman. His freckled face had taken on a lobsterish shade, "Are you free this Friday? There's a day off, so if you wanted to go to the Zoo together…?"

"I will be helping Inko direct traffic at Prince Asseylum's welcome parade. Sorry."

"Honestly," Inko whispered, as the crestfallen Calm retired, "That fool should just say straight out he likes you!"

"Oh. Does he?"

"Kei…that's the fourth time he's asked you out this term."

"Huh. So it's certain that Craftman-san 'likes me'? How nice."

"Did your best as always, bro," Across the classroom, Okisuke patted Calm's shoulder, "But, man, that's one ice-cold chick. You can believe she really did split some boy's head with a rock, in that orphanage."

"That stupid rumour? Even if she did, it wouldn't have been for nothing."

"Ooer. Hey, what if stuff at that orphanage really put her off men? What if she, you know, likes girls?"

"Oh?" Tsumugi Yotaro leaned back and adjusted his glasses, "Tell me more."

"Okisuke, man," Calm looped an arm round the boy's neck, "You're my best friend and all; but if you don't shut up about Kaizuka, I'll break you."

"Okay, man."

"Sorry."

"Yeah, what happened to Japanese courtesy?"

"Went out with the samurai and knights of old?" Yotaro offered.

"Yeah, go to Mars if you want to find that." They all had a laugh at that idea.

-0-

-0-

As Kaizuka Kei was coolly hauling a stunned Inko away from the blast zone at Prince Asseylum's welcome parade, the Prince himself woke in his hotel suite. He still had a splitting headache, but his legs could hold him upright, and his stomach could hold down water. He had barely finished his shower–Terra had such amazing showers!–when one of his bodyguards walked in, with a silenced pistol.

"Something urgent, Axel? You won't find the gun necessary. Give me ten minutes to dress, then I will be entirely–"

His bodyguard aimed the gun at him. A shot rang out–the man crumpled across the carpet. Edward, the Prince's young page, was standing in the doorway clutching a handgun.

"I…I killed him!"

"So you did." The Prince wondered if he was going to collapse again, "May one ask why?" Unable to speak, Edward ushered Asseylum out of the suite. Still wearing a bathtowel, the Prince followed.

Another guard lay in the corridor. The security details in the next room and the landing below had been killed with silenced gunshots. The TV in the room was still playing. The prince saw his body double obliterated by a missile, and couldn't speak.

"Highness?" Edward finally gasped, "What…why…?"

"You saved my life, Edward." The Prince suddenly clapped the boy on the shoulder; his face was an alabaster mask, "Change out of your uniform; we need to escape and contact Vers!"

-0-

-0-

Panic had spread with news of the missile attack. When the world shook and the Tokyo mushroom boiled over the skyline, people seemed to go insane. Rushing to find a UFE official or a working radio, Asseylum seemed as maniac as any of them. Until the streets emptied and he slumped under a bridge, head in hands.

"Highness…this could all be the plot of Versian traitors! The Terrans wouldn't dare to make war…they surely received your desire for peace!"

"For peace? My desire for peace…cast lives away, by the million..." A half-dead flower grew from the paving at the Prince's feet. He stared at it, until a voice speaking English broke in on them.

"Excuse me. You should leave this area."

The girl they saw looked unexceptional at first; rather skinny with thick shoulder-length hair, an oversized sweater under her jacket, and a mouth that was completely still until she spoke. Her dark, hooded eyes were immovable, patiently dissecting one object until complete analysis. What Kaizuka Kei was studying now was a svelte brunette European boy, wearing a coat and scarf, accompanied by a nervous smaller lad in a tuxedo (Edward had no holographic disguise, and only one set of civilian clothes). Now the older boy was bowing to her, with a click of his heels and a magazine-cover smile.

"Ohayo-Gozaimasu, my lady. Might you have the goodness to assist us in our difficulties?"

"Do you work for a host club? I'm not going with you for a drink, or anything."

Kei reached for the pepper spray in her bag. The small boy reached for something else–his friend stopped him quickly and spoke faster.

"Dear lady, please! Is this 'Evacuation Order' something to allow time for drinks? Our situation is desperate–no, horrifying!–but not beyond salvation, if we can only trust each other!"

Shock and grief burst to his face, as deep-practised courtesy broke. The smaller boy averted his eyes.

"So you are in trouble," Kei put her head on one side, "You might have just said that, instead of acting like some prince. What can I do for you?"

-0-

-0-

"Kei-chan, I'm here. Talk to me, please. Open the door."

The Pillbug–the hulking, indestructible Martian Kat–had penned up the refugees in the school. 'Seylum' and Edward, a strange redheaded boy, Kei and her friends, and her sister Yuki, with a ruined Kat and a broken arm. Kei wasn't surprised that her big sister was up and dealing with business.

"I...I will be alright, Yuki-nee."

"'Will be alright'? That's it, I'm breaking the door down!"

"Remember you're injured, Yuki-nee. I'm coming out."

Kei emerged from the toilet stall, her face still and stoic as ever–but she saw in Yuki's pretty, pale face that she was undeceived.

"Kei-chan, what are they saying? You're heading out to fight? It's no use, that Martian is invincible. This is the one time we need to stay put, and get rescued."

"Probably no rescue is coming–and I'm grateful. They would be defeated as you were, Yuki-nee, but we have fought the monster and lived; we must find its weakness."

"Listen to me, Kei!" Yuki's long hair moved furiously with her head, as Kei went to the handwash sinks, " This isn't a game, or exam! You could die for no reason, you can't–!"

"Okisuke died. On the way here, he fell from the APE. I couldn't even reach for his hand, Yuki-nee. I knew I was too weak."

"No! Kei, it wasn't your fault, it was the Martians, I'm so sorry..."

One-armed, Yuki held her sister tight from behind. Kei shut her eyes, but made no other response, as she finished washing her hands.

"I couldn't save him, but I think we can beat this Martian, Yuki-nee. The refugees here need to be saved. I don't want to die without even trying."

"If you go, I'm coming with you."

"You're injured. Please, look after the people here; keep them hopeful and ready to leave. I can't do that like you, Yuki-nee. As you always said, we can do anything together."

Through the desolation and poverty of their childhood, Yuki had fought every day to keep hope in her silent sister's heart. It was a strange, empty comfort to know that her life's mission had successfully ended.

-0-

-0-

"Please, allow me to fight with you! It is but duty to rise to this time of trial; and it would be unthinkable to stand idle while ladies fought in my defence."

"Huh? " Calm scoffed, "That's the most sexist, pretentious–!"

"He could help, couldn't he? I'd feel a bit safer."

Calm did a double take. Inko looked very earnest, and red.

"I suppose you could," Kei bluntly decided, "Take the van."

In their first fight with the Pillbug, Kei's Slepnir got knocked down. She spent too long drawing a bead on the Versian aircraft, and it put a cannon shell in her leg as she shot through its bat-like wing.

"Do not stop." She radioed to Inko and Calm, in their Sleipnirs, "Continue the operation."

The Prince still stopped the giant Pillbug on the bridge. Inko blew the structure apart with her anti-material rifle, and Calm went down after it in the water to avenge Okisuke.

In their next fight against the silver giant with beam katana, Kei had no Kat. However, she had quickly modified her tablet to receive cockpit data from the surviving Slepnirs. Inko's knees were trembling, and death was breathing down her neck, but she was the best pilot. So she faced the untouchable silver Kataphract.

"Try firing AP rounds. Ah. It's using the Liedenfrost effect."

"What?" Inko wailed, still blazing away at the flashing blade field, "Can you do something about that?"

"No. But there should be another way. Quickly lead it toward the crane at one o' clock."

It was Kei who beaned the Silver Kat with the shipping container. After they'd escaped on the Wadatsumi, she gave Inko a tight hug and served her homemade egg-fry rice to all.

Only the prince grew more quiet and discontented. When all eligible refugees were drafted by the UFE, Kei directed Edward to state that his big brother had been homeschooled, and never been near a Kat.

"Let me tell you, I practised each week with my own steed, since I was six," Asseylum muttered to Kei later, "A knight must stand ready to guard the innocent and helpless. I was called a prodigy."

"I've no doubt you employed many tutors to call you a prodigy. But Terran Kats should be different from what you're used to, and swearing loyalty to the UFE might cause you problems later." Hand on his brow, the prince turned away. "Look, come and have lunch with us."

"I could never repay this kindness of yours. Even while my people lay this world waste! Forgive me. It's simply hellish that I can do nothing."

"There will be a time for action, and for ending this war, I hope. Right now, it's time to eat."

Asseylum still visibly brooded over the meal, though he answered all of Inko and Nina's questions courteously enough. Kei chewed her omelette in thoughtful silence, as did the redhaired refugee boy, Wolf Areash.

-0-

-0-

It was during the day-long armistice that the silver Kat dropped onto the Wadatsumi. An Aerion platoon was immediately carved to crispy chunks–and when Kei went for her new Slepnir, it was gone.

"Face me, Terran scum!" The Vers pilot shouted, striding for the ship's bridge, "By my honour–!"

"Speak not of honour, villain. Face me!"

With a few nights of secret study, Prince Asseylum had mastered Terran Kataphrakts. His orange Kat faced the Argyre's charge, then ducked under the blade field, thrusting its rifle. The Argyre only escaped by leaping into the air.

"A prodigy," Kei whispered, "A prodigious idiot."

"Such skill!" Vlad growled, "He might have killed me!"

"Can I kill him? A fellow Versian?" The Prince switched to speakers, "Submit! It is your Prince who–!"

His words were drowned by the blast of his reactive armour. He had casually asked Kei how she would counter the beam katana, and was very glad he had.

Dropping his rifle, the Prince seized the Argyre's arm. The second blade fell explosively on his shoulder; he grabbed that as well. He tried to call out again, but as the beam katana blazed up, his armour sizzled, warnings blazed over his cockpit…he realised death was close enough to touch.

"Hoi, baka Ouji? Stupid Prince?" Kei's voice came over the radio like a throwline, "Hold him! Force him off the side, then press the red button!"

"Unhand me!" Vlad roared.

"Forgive me." Asseylum whispered

"Tilt the ship! TILT IT!"

As she burst onto the bridge, Kei actually shouted; the ship's officers instantly complied. Water poured into the bilges; the listing deck flung both robots out over the sea. As the Argyre fell, to be annihilated by steam explosion, and the Slepnir's escape pod flew up, Kei gave a short sigh. While Vlad ground his teeth, robbed of victory over his worthy nemesis.

-0-

-0-

"Whether you're the prince of Mars, or Krypton," Commander Dan Magbaredge rapped out, staring over his glasses severely, "You'll be in the brig if you hijack UFE property one more time–understood? Anyway, thank you for saving my ship and everyone on her."

"I understand, Commander." Back in his white uniform, the Prince bowed shortly, then turned to Kei, "Miss Kaizuka. I owe you my life." Dropping to one knee, he took her hand to kiss. She snatched it away.

"If you had died, you could never have ended the war. Did you even care about that?"

"I swear…yes…" Asseylum clutched at his chest, lowered his shaking golden head, "But with my nation's honour sold by ruffians, and your lives put in peril by my naivety, I had to go. It was my foolishness, my desire to see your beautiful planet, that begun this terrible war. A ruler must be ready to fight and die for his people…an ill-ruler should simply die!"

"However you feel, you can only save Earth's people by remaining alive. And only you can save them. Isn't that more important than your sense of justice?"

The Prince stared into Kaizuka Kei's immovable eyes, and gave his first heartfelt smile in a week.

-0-

-0-

News of the Prince spread quickly; Inko and Nina followed him all over the ship, billing and cooing. When Calm sought him out, Asseylum apologised sincerely for the actions of his countrymen. Calm glanced at Kei, quietly stood beside the Prince, and snapped back that apologies were cheap.

"Aren't the Martians meant to obey you like a god or something? But you couldn't stop them flattening our world, and killing my friend!" Wolf Areash, the red-haired and silent refugee saved from the Pillbug, added that it wasn't surprising. All Martians were the enemy.

"How dare you speak like that to his Highness!" Edward exploded, "You ungrateful Terran–!"

"Peace, Edward," The Prince turned a determined smile on Calm, "I understand your feelings. If you believe all Martians are the enemy, it falls to me to undeceive you."

Asseylum, however, resisted all temptation to mount up in the fight on Tanigeshima with the Hellas. It was Kaizuka Yuki, Amifumi Inko (no longer showing a trace of fear) and Kaizuka Kei who fought alongside the mysterious Sky Carrier. And Kaizuka Kei who shot it down into the sea.

It was her first direct Kataphrakt fight, but Kei had felt no more fear than she was bound to. Fear would not have helped prevent flying fists from smashing her and the Wadatsumi to pieces. Which would have occurred, when her cannon clicked empty, if the bat-winged craft had not appeared and shot the descending fist aside. It was the third Kat she had beaten, as much by luck as plans. She would still protect the ship and all her friends, Kei knew, without room for the slightest error.

"My Prince! I've found you at last!"

'My' Prince? How interesting. If it weren't absurd that she could have searched the seas and found her Prince, like a cheap fairytale. And impossible, when only his assassins knew that Asseylum was alive.

It's a lie. Not a friend. This is war. She's an enemy.

-0-

-0-

"Blue heavens. Clouds like white towers. The way those seabirds move! Magnificent!"

Prince Asseylum and Kei were out on the Deucalion's main deck. Asseylum had been gazing and grinning at everything like a towheaded child at the fair. finally he sat down on a crate, where his face grew less bright and more troubled. Kei sat down carefully beside him.

"You saved all our lives again. With your remarkable flying battleship."

"Oh, I could do no less. For us to stumble upon the Deucalion's Aldnoah drive, in this place? It could only be fate."

"Fate, and Lieutenant Marito. He fought on Tanigeshima, in the last war, and dug up some secrets afterwards; he directed us here, I believe he called it 'backing a hunch'; he seems quite happy about the outcome. Of course, we could never have activated this ship without you, or finished off the Spider-Kat. "

"Of course; though I fear I can take little pride in it. Femianne may have sought my life, but she was a proud lady of Vers. And it truly rankles, that we couldn't save the Sky Carrier's pilot. I know we can't put so many lives at risk but still…she wasn't a woman as well, was she?"

"I think you should've got the news that chivalry is dead, your highness. Women can fend for themselves, and must."

"How can you say that calmly, without a tear? As long as innocence, delicacy and injustice exist, so does chivalry. I know that women have strength–but if I have strength, or compassion, I will help anyone in their need I possibly can. Versian, Terran, or…" Struck by a thought, the Prince fished a silver pendant from inside his jacket, "A dear Terran friend on Vers gave me this. When we've sorted this war out, I will have to make sure she's okay."

"I think I understand you," Kei stared up at sky, "Its noblesse oblige, isn't it?"

"I suppose so." The Prince looked somewhat surprised.

"Mm. I wasn't born with such privilege and responsibilities as you," Kei went on, "But my life has been saved by a great many people's kindness. My sister, Inko, her family–even you. That's why I want to spend my life, to save as many people as I can. Though all I might do would never be a just repayment." Her face was solemn as it always was. Asseylum stared up at the clouds with her, on the Deucalion's deck, and somehow felt empty.

Where was justice? Who could set everything right? Men had hoped to find God in the wonders of space; but the dead gods of Mars had never inspired the Prince's faith. In the skies and sunlight of Earth, though…their Maker might always have waited, for his lost children to come home.

"I…don't think anyone has spoken to me like you, Miss Kaizuka. When all this is over, do you wish to see the world with me?"

"Sure. Will all your Martian girlfriends come as well? My sister said you probably had a dozen at least."

"Ah, um, well, no! I expect Grandfather will chose a bride for me, in a few years–"

"I suppose you should find a girlfriend you like before then. Inko said she wouldn't mind if you…."

"Highness!"

The Prince nearly went as red as his cloak, as Edward popped up behind him. Swelled with the importance of protecting his master from Terran womanly wiles.

-0-

-0-

Later, Prince Asseylum went for another shower. Working up a lather, he heard someone behind him. Wolf Areash. Without the hoodie, or anything else, his muscled body was quite astonishing.

"Hmm? Wolf, isn't it? Am I required at all–?"

The Prince was almost ready, but his head was still slammed on the wall, and a punch drove breath from his body. He struck back with elbows, and chops at nerve centres, but Wolf seemed impervious to pain. The Prince had never fought anyone who truly wanted him dead. Finally he crashed down in pinkish water, and Wolf's fingers pressed at his throat. As the Deucalion shuddered and fell, he kept squeezing–until someone threw an arm round his neck, hauled him off.

With a practised twist, Wolf threw the attacker over him. Calm Craftman hit the floor beside the Prince, blood drifting out from his head.


	3. Childhood's End

For the first time in two years, Slaine woke in a bed. The air felt pressurised–she was in orbit. The room was austere, but definitely a woman's. Her head felt sore, and cold. Shaved bare. And her body was tenderised steak on a grill.

Was she saved? Her wounds were dressed. Could she remember...?

She remembered. Every movement was more pain; she still curled up in the bed and cried.

Finally she looked up, at a face lined by unhappy years. The Emperor's close advisor, Cruhteo's friend. Her rescuer.

"Good evening, Slaine," Even for her, Saazbaum's smile was bitter, "Would you prefer to eat here, or in the stateroom?"

"…Cruhteo. He's the traitor who tried to murder his Highness!"

"No, Cruhteo was loyal. If he had discovered your innocence, I imagine he would've secured the Prince then shot himself, for what he did to you. No, the one who planned Prince Asseylum's death was I."

-0-

-0-

"My Prince! I've found you!"

Her beloved saviour had been lost and in peril. Like Fair Janet and her Tam Lin, she had gone to save him. Braving the dark palace on distant Mars. Escaping from a castle full of enemies. And finally joining with unlikely allies, to rescue her Prince from the wicked Lady Femianne's clutches. Now he was there, on the bridge of his marvellous flying battleship. It was like a dream. Any moment, he might turn and see her...

"How did you know the Prince was alive?"

The Orange pilot couldn't suspect her. She'd fought and strived to save her Prince; it had been joy to fight beside a comrade!

Or were they comrades? Did the UFE mean to exploit the Prince's power? Use him, hold him; even dissect him? Were they–?

"Yes. You are an enemy."

Her Carrier fell from the sky, and sea raged around her. Crushed breath from her throat–she finally hit the surface. Drifted to shore like a drowned alley cat. Shivered up the beach, and passed out, less from exhaustion than despair.

She woke wrapped in blankets, chained to a Sky Carrier's floor. The first Versian to notice drove his foot into the base of her spine.

My Prince. Save me. Please.

-0-

-0-

They'd told Slaine at once, no man would ever look at her twice again. Barely a threat, given the looks she'd suffered; nothing to make her betray her Prince. She'd sat bolt upright, as they tore away the blue tunic she'd betrayed. Yanked her hair from its clip, and sheared it off to the scalp, until blood dripped over her shoulders. Then they had chained her hands, and she only remembered pain.

I'll protect you, my Prince. I won't tell. I won't...

I will recall your smile, as they hit me in the mouth. I will recall your voice when they abuse me, and spray my body with spit. Your kindness, before the baton comes down again…

This is Vers. A boot on a human face. This is their world. But not the truth!

You are Vers, my Prince. You are goodness and truth. You are my world. I am alive because of you, so I will not shut down. Feel nothing. Forget you. No! I will feel everything that they do to me, and remember you. I am protecting you, for as long as this pain is here!

Please. Save me...

But her Prince was one man, far away, and the torture had no end.

Cruhteo's handsome face was impassive, but Slaine saw a strange glint in his eyes. Utter abasement to power above him, crushing fulfilment of power on all below-both had ground something within him to insanity.

"Have you learned a little humility yet, Terran? Tell us who you were scheming with, and the pain will end."

Save me. Save me, or let me die.

"...uh...Cru'to...what'd your wife say...she saw this...?" He hit her with his cane; a tooth pinwheeled away, "Or your daughter...when she was a bad girl, did you...?"

Then Cruhteo had stepped away, and told a man to hold her head back.

"Ah, Milord–?"

"Obey your orders!"

-0-

-0-

In silence, Slaine had limped to the dining room. She noted that any mirrors had been removed. Blankly, she watched Count Saazbaum eat, and speak of his grudge against the Imperial family.

"Your room was last used by my fiancé, Orleanne. She was a woman who could defy the world to achieve her wishes. The day she sallied forth in Vers' most powerful Kataphrakt, to lead the invasion of Terra, at my side…her happiness was something sacred. And they crushed it. For his father's sins, and the good of Vers, Prince Asseylum must die. Do eat something." Slaine looked down, but didn't eat.

"Why did you save me?"

"Your father saved my life in Heaven's Fall. I saved you in payment of that debt."

"…when father died. Why didn't you help me then?"

"I destroyed the Baron who assaulted you. I told Cruhteo to do you no lasting harm."

"It was you." Slaine almost heaved, to think that this worn old man had held her life in his hands; and so many other lives. Still, she rose to her feet, "You tried to kill my Prince. You let me be beaten and abused, and almost...!"

"Yet you stand before me. I could have taken you in, pampered and cosseted you like a Princess–I truly could. I could have made you believe entirely that Asseylum deserves to die; that your perfect foster-father could be wrong in nothing-"

"No! You could not!"

"-but as matters stand, my dear Slaine, you have a choice. And the strength to remake this world according to it. Has anyone ever told you that you look beautiful?"

Slaine stared back. Tears ran over her cheeks–over the plasters that covered them. She reached to rip them off, but Saazbaum caught her hand.

Cruhteo's whip had briefly scoured her chest, before settling on her face. One scar across her brow. Three on her right cheek. Two on her left; one dividing the bridge of her nose.

"No…"

"You are. Beauty under the skin, and in your eyes. Strength to defy the world. Your father would be proud of you." That was when Slaine thrust a steak knife at Saazbaum's throat. The Count did not move a muscle.

Of course, she threw it aside in the end. He was a demon who deserved to die, but his eyes held too much sorrow.

Soldiers led her to the brig; silently, she went in and laid down. It felt like her father's tiny spaceship. Or her cupboard bedroom-kennel on Castle Cruhteo–blasted by Saazbaum for her sake. He might shoot her next morning. In the pit of despair, she was home.

She was carved for life. No more pretence. Vers had made a beast of her without and within.

-0-

-0-

Days later, Slaine was brought to the Tharsis bay. Even the sight of Cruhteo's Kataphract made her flinch. Behind her, Saazbaum looked up at the darkened face.

"Prince Asseylum is at the Novosibirisk bunker complex. Subduing it will be no easy feat. If you wish to hasten this war's end, I can give you the power to do just that."

"To help you kill his Highness?"

"Does he not care more for Terrans than the commons of Vers? Did he save you from the Baron? Cruhteo? The UFE?"

"Did you? You tried to kill my Prince. You let them tear me apart! You're a selfish, two-faced demon, and I hate you…"

"I am. Hate me, if you wish. This ugly world needs warriors, strong as us, or the future will be as terrible as our pasts. Asseylum's father made war with Terra inevitable; I will make it historical. And the only knight I could share my work with is you, Slaine. For everything you've suffered so bravely, will you join me?"

"Hate you." Tears fell from Slaine's eyes, "You were never there for me...Daddy!"

Slaine buried her ruined face in Saazbaum's jacket. The Count smiled, almost unbitterly, and put his arms around her.

"But, the Aldnoah–"

"You always had the power, my girl. Take an hour to practise with your new steed. You will have your revenge on the UFE; as for Asseylum, leave him to me."

"Very well. Just give me a mask."

As the Tharsis lit up under Slaine's hands, another power seemed to wake inside her. She bowed her head, and took up the controls.

I'm sorry, my Prince. Though my soul grow twisted as this face…though it hurts so strangely, to deceive the murderer who saved me…I will use this power to find and save you! I will take you far away, to where nothing can hurt either of us again.

-0-

-0-

"Well, that's done." As he stepped back from the microphones, Prince Asseylum's smile was a little fraught; but he had virtually recovered from Wolf's assault. "I don't know how I can possibly repay you all."

"Hm, knighthood?" Calm muttered.

"A few million cash?" Yuki grinned.

"A…kiss?" Inko hid her face.

"Just take care of your life."

Asseylum looked back at Kei, and gave a shining smile. Calm sighed. His head was still bandaged, but three days bedrest, living off Kei's home cooking, had lightened him noticably. After Kei and Magbaredge had revived the Prince, Wolf had burst from hiding, poured out his grief, and almost shot himself. Yuki had pulled down his gun arm with her servo-arm, while driving her knee into his descending chin.

"I hope, one day, to receive you all on Mars, and confer formal commendations," The Prince went on, "Yes, when that is possible, the rift between our worlds will truly be healed. Of course, I'll ensure the Orbital Knights pay just reparations to their victims."

"If possible, but not if it provokes another war," Kei stated, "What we want above all is peace."

"Quite true. But those war-hungry Counts must be humbled, somehow…oh, I hope for many more conversations with you, Miss Kaizuka. And to hear in more detail why the sky is blue."

The Prince was still smiling, as he left with Edward to meet the UFE commanders. As the Deucalion crew left for their ship, Yuki whispered that Kei was on Cloud Nine.

An hour later, Castle Saazbaum dropped onto the tundra far above, like the hammer of judgement. As sirens blared, Asseylum stared at his page, and asked who he was.

"Asseylum Vers Allusia, Highness! The rightful Crown Prince of sacred Vers!"

"If I am, why is this place under attack?"

-0-

-0-

Missiles poured onto Novosibirisk, until the surface smoked and boiled like the gates of hell. In a grey jacket, and white mask, Lady Slaine Troyard waited. Then the Sky Carrier above her Kataphrakt dropped, roared. Shot out like a bullet into the frozen air.

Below them, hidden batteries uncovered and opened up–from the Tharsis, Slaine took control of the aircraft. She dodged every missile, or shot them down. The Dioscuria and its drones sped past her. Then she was leaping down, flying through the snow, blowing every flak emplacement apart. A black hole yawned ahead–anti-bunker missiles had bored Novosibirisk down to bedrock. Far below, defiant Aerions raised their guns, and waited.

The white Tharsis dived into the shaft, thrusters blazing. Slaine saw every shell, seeking her from every side. Span and twisted through the storm, with perfect control.

"Forgive me."

The shaft cut through every level of the complex; Aerions fired from many floors. As Slaine dropped past, she smashed through guns and arms with her blades. At the bottom, a platoon were ready. But Slaine floored her thrusters and shot out away from the opening, with a firestorm at her back.

She landed on an Aeiron, surfed it into the wall, then leapt away to cut down all the others–disabling, not killing. Even if Terrans had stolen and exploited her Prince, he wouldn't approve of her wiping them out.

"Southern breach, clear!"

"Northern and eastern breaches, clear." Saazbaum's dry voice came over the radio, "Ground troops, engage the enemy."

Like bats swooping through a cave, two Sky Carriers touched down behind Slaine. Ranks of Vers infantry filed out.

"Waste no time with stray Terrans!" Slaine called to them, "Find Prince Asseylum!"

"You heard the Lady! Find the prince!" An officer echoed, "Execute him–!"

Blood flew from his head; he dropped. One of the Aerion pilots spared by Slaine leant over his Kat, aiming his sidearm grimly. Three Vers soldiers shot him to pieces.

"I'll deal with them! Fulfil your mission!" Slaine sent a warning spatter of cannon fire over the wrecked Aerions. One of them burst into flames. Feeling a stab of panic, she raced ahead of the troops. Where was her Prince? How could she find him, before anyone else?

She saw him at last, racing in a Humvee towards the flying battleship. Vers troops were firing on them. with a snarl, she blew their rocket out of the air, drove them into cover with a volley. She turned–her Prince was on the battleship ramp. She gunned the Tharsis thrusters, but they had taken damage. Then a shell hit her left shield, knocked her into a spin.

"All Martians are the enemy!" Before Slaine had struck Wolf down, the battleship was aloft and out of reach.

She nearly screamed. Anger would possess the Vers troops as well; they would take out their frustration on any helpless civilians they found.

"The Prince has escaped. The mission is over! Return to your start points!"

"But, Milady–"

"Obey your orders!"

A nation of hundred thousands could only survive in space by obedience without question. Most of the Versians jogged straight back.

-0-

-0-

Prince Asseylum had performed no more Kataphract HALO jumps than Yuki, Inko or Kei, but his Sleipnir had come down intact on Castle Saazbaum. He had barely joined up with his friends, and confirmed that the Deucalion had survived its crash, when the black Kataphract descended through the raging snow.

"Saazbaum. The snake! Our most trusted counsellor–!"

"Typical, really." Kei stepped out, "Prince, you must deactivate the Castle. Go with Inko and Yuki."

Looking back, Asseylum saw Kei dodge a shower of missiles from Saazbaum's war-machine. As Yuki blasted an entrance into the Castle, Aerions from the second jump rushed to Kei's aid. The Dioscuria drones came flying in to combine. The giant new Kataphract instantly rocket-punched two Aerions apart…

"No. We must defeat Saazbaum. I must shoulder this trial and fight!" The Prince's Kataphract thundered back, firing as he charged. The shots vanished into the Dioscuria's shield, like pebbles in a lake.

"Idiot Prince!" Kei shouted, "Avenging your honour can wait!"

"It can hang! I care nothing for revenge, but I will not let you die! Not you too!"

"Asseylum!" Saazbaum roared, "You could never say so, had you lost the one you loved!" The Prince barely dodged a rocket punch, then leapt forward to probe the blade field for openings.

"Did you provoke war over your personal loss? You are no Count, Saazbaum!"

"It was your father who betrayed our nation! Who set Vers against Terra from the start, to secure his power with hatred! Only annihilation–of Terra or Vers!–will end this cycle of war that your father span!"

"No! My father…I…!" Shocked, the Prince fought to speak. He scarcely saw the blade field ripple down–Kei had to fire thrusters, and knock Asseylum aside. Then she rolled, and threw both of them down the hole of a rocket-strike, barely escaping Saazbaum's second blow. The Sleipnirs crashed down inside the Castle. Quickly, they were on their feet and pounding away.

"Which way to the Aldnoah chamber?"

"That passage, but there's no door this side!"

"We'll make one." As the Prince had attacked Saazbaum, Kei had ordered Yuki and Inko to engage the Castle forces, in front of the Aldnoah chamber. Now she and the Prince would move their own fight round the back. When her plans broke, like all the best tacticians, she was ready to tie a knot.

"Run from me, would you?" As the Dioscuria's feet clanged down in the passage, Saazbaum sent another rocket punch at the Prince. At the last second, he dodged again. Kei fired at the unshielded wrist, while Asseylum shot out the fist's engine. "What?"

"Vers and Terra!" The Prince laughed, "Fighting together in harmony!"

"It would be harder if Versians were less predictable! Now. The shield's weak point." Kei let off a burst of fire. The blade field swept it away. She stepped back, still firing. Saazbaum charged her, sword blazing–Asseylum aimed one shot beneath his arm, and blew out the shield generator. "Thank you."

As Kei leapt back, Asseylum dashed past the blade field, and knocked the Dioscuria down. Unloaded his weapon at the cockpit–Saazbaum howled like a wounded beast. Kei fired at the blade field arm, until it died. But by sheer mass, Saazbaum threw the Prince aside, and drove Kei's Kat through three walls, thrusters roaring.

"So, you befriended a Terran, Asseylum? Prepare to watch them die!" Wrestling against the final wall, they traded blows. Asseylum heard Saazbaum groan again; Kei, as always was silent.

Then the white Kataphract flew past him. Three giant robots crashed into the Aldnoah room, with an explosion of shattered metal.

-0-

-0-

"Saazbaum! Are you alive? I'm sorry, I–! Oh! My Prince!"

Slaine staggered from the Tharsis, to see Prince Asseylum deactivating Castle Saazbaum. Outside, hundreds of Versians surrendered on the spot; the rest fought on without orders, Kats or rocket support.

"Miss Troyard." Even in the darkened, bell-shaped vault–even masked and scalped–the Prince recognised her voice. He stared at her. Then the crushed Slepnir under her feet. "Why are you here?"

Slaine stared back from the depths of the abyss. Then the Slepnir's hatch hissed up, like a dying breath–the Prince dashed to Kei's side, clung to her hand.

"You're safe! Tell me you're safe, you brave, wonderful girl..."

"Prince, I can't see…"

"Don't be afraid. I'll keep you safe forever–"

The first bullet struck Asseylum in the back. He straightened up, looked into his killer's eyes–then the second flung him down, among echoes like thunder. A life of pain and hatred had purged Saazbaum's smile of any joy at all.

"So much for Asseylum Vers Allusia. You never did know how to treat a lady. Ah, Slaine. Thank–"

Slaine screamed out, and fired her gun at the Count until it clicked.

Slumping down with three bullets in him, he smiled. Tapped his forehead. Mocking her. Or confessing he deserved to die–!

No. She had killed him. The hope of two worlds, brave and innocent. Her saviour, who she had utterly betrayed. The Prince had frowned on her. On a bloodstained, lying demon, who deserved to die…

Scars drenched with tears, Slaine put the gun to her head. Pulled and pulled the trigger, but it always clicked.

She wailed out again–finally saw the Orange girl, crawling. Throwing her mask aside, she walked up and kicked her away from the Prince's body.

"Do not touch his Highness. You Terran whore."

"Batgirl." A weary smile. She had a broken leg. Slaine had an empty pistol, but the Martians had taught her to kill with her hands.

She just couldn't do it. For the same boy, they had both sought fair ends by foul means. Some fouler than others–but the same punishment was before them, golden and bloodied.

"Why did you shoot me down, Miss Orange? Why did you bring him here? You're going to feel this pain, forever..."

"…pulse, you blind bat. He's alive. Help him."

Slaine turned to the Prince; then she fell to her knees beside him with joyful cries. Her smile was as filled with joy and hope as any in her vanished childhood. And the last she would smile for a long time.

She heard the scraping. Miss Orange had drawn a Glock, and levelled it at her back.

As Kei fired, Slaine knocked the gun aside with a turning back kick. Snatched up her pistol and followed through. Smashed the butt into Kei's temple, just above her eye.


	4. No One Can Hear You Scream

**Vers Empire Moonbase. 12 months after the Battle of Novosibirisk**

"Is that the Lady Troyard?

"Who else? Her Tharsis saved our whole convoy."

"Ach. Did she really…scar her own face? To cut all the woman and Terran in her away?"

"Nah, that's a stupid rumour. I heard the Terrans tortured her for three days and nights, just because she'd lived on Mars."

"Filthy savages. That's why she only lives to kill Terrans now?"

"Sure, she mows them down like a sandstorm–but I heard she'll fight harder to get one Versian home alive. Even commoners. That's about all she does, though; every sortie, twice the patrols of any Noble. She fights like a machine."

"But she moves like some deadly Terran beast. That body...before those scars, she must have been smoking."

"Yeah. Suddenly, I want a Terran to kill. Uh oh, look busy!"

The Vers transport crew hurried off, under Astrid Treskow's severe gaze. She glanced back at her mistress, talking with Count Saazbaum against a backdrop of stars.

The bright smile Lady Troyard showed to soldiers and servants vanished the instant she settled in the Tharsis. A heart wrapped in white armour, plunged in the frozen sea of space…but her smile for Count Saazbaum, alone, seemed nothing but grateful and devoted.

-0-

-0-

"Excellent work today, Slaine. I'm quite proud of you."

"You honour me, Milord."

"Your servant, however, seems rather unused. You should order Treskow to compile study materials or assist other workers, if nothing else."

"Forgive me. I'm still hardly used to having a servant."

"Well, a worthy noble should outwork their servants. Treskow, what is Lady Troyard's schedule for the day?"

"Viewing combat records, researching Vers history and politics, tutoring Prince Lemerius on Terran customs and attending on Prince Asseylum, Milord."

"Well, I can give all the knowledge you need on history and politics, eh? And if you neglect one visit, I doubt the prince will complain..."

"My lord….he…was my Prince. Please."

"Very well, Slaine. But find an hour to discuss politics with me, and we'll see if a liveable future cannot come from a miserable past."

"Yes, Milord. Our hope for the future is in you."

-0-

-0-

With most of Clan Saazbaum, Sergeant Astrid Treskow (Citizen Second Class, aged twenty four, single) had waited years for the war with Earth. At last, their lord would turn Vers upside down by force–the last reasoning her nobles retained the sense to comprehend. A trained Carrier pilot, Astrid had aimed to win glory as a Stygis pilot–not for herself, but every commoner of Vers, and the Count she would prove as their champion.

But her lord's plan had been halted by a single Terran, who had wrecked the Dioscuria, and wounded him severely. Then her had summoned her, still arm-slung and bandaged. Appointed her personal attendant to a Terran knight.

"This is your appointed task, Treskow. I require a female servant, of impeccable loyalty." Loyalty to whom, she quite understood.

"Do you distrust Slaine Troyard then, Milord?"

"Would it not be foolish to ennoble her, if I did?"

"Milord's motives and plans are his alone."

"Yes. They are." The Count's smile was bitter as a scar, "No, I don't trust her. But I wish I could."

He was smiling at Slaine now, with proper pride in the strength he had crafted in his own image. Count Saazbaum changed everything; Terra, Vers, a scar-faced teenage knight, and her. If Astrid had believed that Lady Troyard touched her lord, or moved him by an inch, she would have made it her life's mission to have her mistress degraded and shot.

Not that she had anything personal against her. Lady Troyard was a brilliant knight, tidy and undemanding. She even still clipped her pale hair up, like an enlisted man. But what truly drove her cold and lethal course, Astrid still didn't know; that was a severe failure. Was it her rightful lord, a dying prince, or the false one?

-0-

-0-

"Nobles and commons of Vers, let us show the Terrans our strength! Honour and strength are our right to possess this world, so full of water and air that light itself is bent!"

Prince Asseylum Vers Allusia leaned forward, gripping the arms of his wheelchair.

"And at last I may tell you that his Majesty has released the kataphrakt Olympus. Within the month, it will arrive in Earth orbit. With my royal Grandfather's blessing, for the sake of both my legs, I myself will soon lead you against the perfidious Terrans!"

"Kei..." Amifumi Inko (PFC) put an arm around her roommate. Ensign Kaizuka Kei still stared at the broadcast on the screen.

"It's not him. I told the prince about the Rayleigh effect."

Once her hair had regrown following the operation to repair her skull, she had tied it back. A patch covered the side of her head, but her right eye appeared unchanged.

"Hate to tell you this, girl," Commander Dan Magbaredge murmured, "But you've been sleeping with the enemy."

"Sir, I did not–"

"Alright, it's just an expression!"

"I know, Sir. There is no problem, Sir. I will destroy all Versians that threaten the Earth."

Once her hair had regrown after her skull reconstruction, Kei had tied it back in a ponytail. The analytical engine in her right socket (that had already defeated the Elysium), seemed no more fixed or cold than her left optic. A sagging right cheek, below her ruined infraoptical nerve, was the only mark a year of war and surgery had left.

Pvt Calm Craftman, Kataphrakt Engineer, watched everything, as grimly as Wolf Areash did (After shooting or knifing a dozen Versians at Novosibirisk, and saving numerous civilian lives, the Martian defector had found a place on the Duecalion)

"Hey, Inko," Nina whispered to her, later, "Has Kei...changed at all?"

"Can't tell. I think she's even more the same."

-0-

-0-

"Well that's done." Prince Lemerius shed his disguise; swung his wheelchair back away from the microphones, "The stone that begins the avalanche!"

"And very well done, your Highness." Saazbaum murmured. Slaine, Edward and Astrid were standing with him just offstage.

"Yes, almost well done as your work to stalemate the war, until your Dioscuria was repaired! Wouldn't have done for another Count to conquer Terra before you, would it?"

"Before us, Highness."

"Don't flatter me, Saazbaum."

Lemerius spoke quietly, leaning back in his chair. If his half-brother had been like a brave, cheerful retriever (Slaine though, with a stab of agony), his half-brother was a sharp, determined feline. He was much slimmer and paler than his brother too, with a ghostly sheen to his hair. The light in his eyes burnt lower, but more intense. As the only Versian closer than Mars who could confer the Activation factor, and use a personal hologram to impersonate Asseylum, the late Emperor's secret offspring was essential to Saazbaum's war and revolution...

"Slaine?" The Prince eyed her with a coy smile, "While you accompany me to the hanger, might you not tell me what you could be thinking?"

Astrid watched Lady Troyard take the Prince's hand, as Edward wheeled him away. Slaine's smile was lit with inner joy–but an edge of sadness, faint and desperate.

-0-

-0-

"…I only thought that you gave the broadcast with great spirit, Highness."

"As much as my brother might have?"

"As much, Highness."

"Ah, well." The Prince stood up, in the darkened hangar, and swung his arms out, "It's quite fitting that I should become the illusion of my brother. The better part of my life, I have lived in fantasies."

Lemerius's legs, however feeble, could send him bounding close to the ceiling in low gravity. He flew up like a moon rabbit, spinning as he went, and laughing. Slaine floated behind, watchful for his safety.

"So many dreams!" Lemerius settled on a shoulder of the Tharsis, in the starlight, "To be presented on Mars as a prince. To depose my dear granddad, and see my Empire reach out to Neptune! To lead armies in glorious battle, as brother never would. To woo the loveliest lady in Vers, and win her…"

Leaping again, Lemerius clung to Slaine's hand and waist, swinging her around in a mid-air waltz. He laughed. She smiled as if in pain.

"Please, highness, I'm not lovely–not since–"

"Don't you see?" As they drifted to the floor, he pulled up her hand to his eyes. Life in a wheelchair had made his grip shockingly strong, "So slim and white–but how many foes has this hand killed? How many noble tears soaked up, from those unfathomable eyes? Each callus and mark speaks of beauty within…"

"Please let go of my hand, Highness."

Lemerius complied so hastily, he fell back on his rump. After staring off moodily at distant stars, he suddenly grinned.

"Grandfather should've released the Olympus before now! These legs won't keep me from mounting a kataphrakt in space. Soon, I will scour every Terran from these asteroids, setting danger at naught by your side!"

"I have no doubt that you would, Highness. However, I cannot let you risk your life; you are the Prince I must protect."

"You too?" Lemerius' smile grew hardened and cold, "You flatter, and cosset, and value nothing of me but my royal blood. So has it always been. Even for you, I'm just a shadow of your prince of peace. But I am the one the 37 Clans will follow–who must lead them, if this war is to end in victory. Soon, Vers will see the true strength of her Prince. Now, help me up, and take me to my suite."

Pale and silent, Slaine complied.

-0-

-0-

Hours later, Slaine went to the place she always returned to Dismissed by Lemerius, Edward was dozing in the shadows. He jerked awake, as Slaine's high-top boots clicked over the floor. Stared up at a kindly smile, and still blue eyes that stood out in a furrowed face.

"Milady! Forgive me, I was tired–"

"Don't worry. Miss Treskow has found me asleep on this floor, more than once."

"Milady Slaine…um, I'm sorry…" The little page stared dumbly at Slaine's face, then hurried out.

The green light of the stasis bed covered Slaine, like thorns dense enough to cut off sunlight. Crown Prince Asseylum Vers Allusia lay under glass, blonde halo wavering in sterile currents. As she sat beside him, he seemed quite asleep.

"Good evening, Highness. You look lovely this evening, again. Your brother Lemerius is well. Though he was raised away from the light, he's as passionate as you, my Prince...he won't be protected much longer, from worlds of bloodshed and death. I couldn't protect…oh, it's almost a blessing you sleep here, with nothing to grieve your heart…

"In another life, you might have liked Count Saazbaum's. No, I'm sure you would like him, even now. He has such brilliant dreams, for the future of Vers...they simply all involve a deal of killings.

" Your brother said I had beauty within. Ah, if he saw what lives inside me...! If you saw me, my Prince…but when we were children, you even smiled on me! Please, wake. Please wake, my Prince and save us. I'm sorry, sorry…please, don't leave me in this grief, alone."

Slaine lay down her body, over her Prince's silent form. The glass was warm on her lips, but unanswering.

-0-

-0-

The next day Slaine dropped into her loyal Tharsis, and found the Aldnoah drive dead as stone. Lemerius was stood nearby, examining his nails.

"Highness, I must support the Stygis squadron on this raid. Why have you deactivated the Tharsis?"

"It was the only way I could convey my feelings, seeing as you only value me for this power." Slaine knelt, began to protest– "Tell me the truth. Don't you hate me for replacing my brother?"

"I knew from the day we met, you would never be Prince Asseylum's replacement, Highness. You are yourself alone."

"Alone? A cold compliment, Lady Troyard. I might not have gone through torture and battle, but I am stronger than you think. I may reactivate your Tharsis tomorrow–"

"I can't know what you've suffered, Highness–" Lemerius paused, turned back, "But I have lived alone, and unregarded, as a Terran servant of the Orbital Knight. As a woman, who has suffered much and longed in vain for love–judge me if I do not feel for your sufferings. My Prince."

Lemerius gave a tiny smile. Then he dropped to one knee, lifted her chin and kissed her.

"Now mount your steed. My beautiful knight."

Then he realised, Slaine had gone stiff in his arms as a board. Her face was a mask of horror, and it had clearly taken some effort not to deck him. All round the hanger, workers glanced with amusement.

"I'm sorry."

"No, I'm sorry, Highness…"

Slaine looked away, then strode off. As she vaulted into the Tharsis, Lemerius felt a stab of pity for the UFE men she would soon be killing.

"–so, not exactly a triumph, dear brother." The Prince told his unconscious sibling later, "I'm sure you'd have done better–but I do not mean to give up. I will take your position, take your Kataphrakt, and win the girl you foolishly cast aside. As Prince of Vers, who else can I be but you?"

-0-

-0-

Far away, as Lemerius spoke, an Areion burst like a glass bottle. Two more swooped past, firing their cannons at Stygis fighters–Slaine gnawed her lip, as she blew them apart.

They were helpless. She hadn't pitied an enemy since Novosibirisk. But she had been a helpless child under that kiss, for one terrified, unending instant. One instant could wreck the world in blood. A Stygis fighter exploded to her right–a Vers missile blasted the Areion, before she could fire.

She was a Knight of Vers, who mounted her Tharsis and killed. A white monster, to be broken and slain by Princes, never loved. The UFE were running; she blasted ahead, shot down another one. However thin she felt with sorrows, however enraged with herself, however weary, she would keep fighting, for the Prince of Vers.

A Stygis drone exploded in Slaine's face. Her head shot round–then she dodged cannon rounds from her other side.

"Milady, two below as well! Allow me to take the one on your right!"

The Stygis fighter and its surviving drones shot past, as Slaine fired on the other ambushers. She hadn't seen the Areion drift from an asteroid's shadow; if the drone hadn't shielded her, she would've been hit

-0-

-0-

"Pilot Officer Jean Harklight; thank you. I'm ashamed to have proved so careless. If you hadn't shielded me, I might have been killed."

"Not at all, Milady. A freak mishap. I merely did what I could." Harklight was a tall, dark man; neat and alert as if fresh from parade instead of combat. Slaine found herself smiling at him.

"Well, that was a great deal. I believe it would encourage the whole base if I recommend you for public commendation."

"I couldn't possibly accept, Milady." Slaine was nonplussed; since Harklight was clearly unwilling to elaborate, she glanced to Astrid.

"No Noble would admit willingly that they were saved by a commoner." Her attendant whispered, "Many in Vers have accepted you; but others, who hate the idea of a Terran Noble, would use this to drag you down." Harklight's eyes betrayed that this was his thinking. Slaine sighed, and pulled up his holographic flight card.

"Mr Harklight, you have the squadron's third best kill score, and hadn't lost a drone before today. You have already risen from the Third Class. For our nation's future, men like you should accept advancement."

"If I may, Milady. You yourself have transcended your early station by talent and dedication. If I might support you to rise still further, rather than hinder you for selfish reasons; I believe that would be truly for the good of Vers."

"Is there anything I can do for you, Mr Harklight?" He hesitated, then sighed.

"...our comrade, pilot Yuri Wilskin, was killed in today's engagement, Milady. I believe he deserves a commendation far more than I."

"How nice to think of your unit, as well as Lady Troyard," Astrid snapped, "Consider yourself dismissed."

"Something wrong, Miss Treskow?" Slaine asked, after Harklight had strode away. Despite her annoyance, she was still smiling.

"His insolence, Milady…he couldn't have protected you like that, unless he was watching you, more than his squadmates. Men of that class only refuse commendation if they're angling for promotion."

"Perhaps Mr Harklight deserves promotion."

"I really couldn't say, Milady. I will say that this is all the result of overwork. You're either in the saddle, training or attending the Princes, every hour on the clock. I've found your meals untouched a dozen times. Sitting still beside that medical tank exhausts you more than anything else. Your duty is to destroy the Terran enemy–not yourself." Slaine still smiled, but not with eyes. Astrid sighed, "For the sake of your comrades, at least take proper meals and a full night's sleep!"

"Why must I sleep, Miss Treskow? I have no further use for dreams. Perhaps Wilskin did. But a posthumous commendation is all he will attain in this world."

-0-

-0-

As the long-planned assault on Trident orbital base became imminent, Slaine and Saazbaum assembled at Marineros Base with other Versian forces. The Orange Terran Kataphract had been scything through Stygis fighters in the area; Slaine had briefly fought Kaizuka Kei on the way to Marineros, and was almost eager to fight her again. She would certainly be preferable company to some of the allied Orbital Knights.

"Well, if it isn't the scarred Terran alleycat."

"Count Marylcian, Count Barouhcruz. Excuse me–" Slaine tried to bow past the two Counts; Marylcian stopped her with his sword.

"One moment. You should pay proper respect to a real noble of Vers. A fine figure of a noble man, wouldn't you say? Or have you yet to tire of lying with that old coot Saazbaum?"

Slaine broke Marylcian's nose. A nerve-strike from Barouhcruz dropped her to the floor–Marylcian would have driven his sword through her, if Saazbaum hadn't interposed.

"My lord, your Terran pet attacked a Count of Vers. It requires putting down!"

"…ugh…insulted my lord…!"

"You went rather too far, Marylcian," The blonde Count stalked away, dabbing at his nose, "Could we let this matter rest, Count Saazbaum?" Barouhcruz muttered nervously.

"No," Saazbaum raised his voice, "Hear me, all of you! Here and now, I adopt Slaine Troyard as my daughter and heir!"

Slaine Saazbaum-Troyard stared up, at the man who had made her. Something warm and beautiful she had almost forgotten burst in her chest for an instant.

"My Lord! Thank you…Daddy?"

"Dear Slaine." He smiled, helping her to stand, "Now, let us prepare to sally forth. My Dioscuria and your Tharsis. A family of battle."

-0-

-0-

"…a family of death, and blood. Did you imagine I could forgive you? For shooting down my angel?"

His Kataphract crippled and immobile, Saazbaum waited. The fury in Slaine's voice, he knew, would dye her white scars blood red.

"I saved you. You still hurt my Prince! My father saved you? You never raised a finger to help me, until I'd almost been raped! Was that a test, Count Saazbaum? Did you want to ensure your daughter could save herself, without a Prince's help? I suppose you even knew about the maid I had him dismiss! You knew everything, and you still let me bleed and crawl, until I was strong enough to replace your dead fiancée! You–!"

She broke off. Saazbaum heard heavy breathing, then silence.

"Goodbye. Daddy."

"Well played…my girl."

-0-

-0-

"Count Saazbaum has been slain. Perhaps by treachery. All non-essential Clan Saazbaum personnel on Marineros are confined to their quarters, incommunicado, until further notice."

Astrid Treskow duly proceeded to her quarters. After a day or two, she was shuttled back to the Moonbase, and her mistress came to her room. Slaine pulled off her hair clip, shook a white avalanche over her shoulders, and told Astrid to sit down.

"I killed Count Saazbaum. You helped me to calculate that 'meteor shower's' trajectory, so there's little point denying it. I really intended that trap for the Orange Kataphrakt; but when the chance came to eliminate Saazbaum, I took it."

"You betrayed him. Because he killed your Prince."

"Your Prince as well. He betrayed me; he would have sold you out the instant it suited his plan. He was a noble, raised in darkness and lies–but I have been a commoner like you. I know your sufferings, and your dreams. I will transform Vers, as Emperor Saazbaum never would have done. Swear loyalty to me, and I will trust you to say nothing about this."

"Swear loyalty? As you swore to Saazbaum?" Astrid met Slaine's gaze; then the attendant sighed, "Very well. I suppose it's keep silent, or be silenced."

Days later, Astrid had set the Moonbase Audience chamber to contact Count Marylcian, when the power died, and Slaine stepped in behind her with a gun.

"So, this is your loyalty. I must commend you for involving no one else on the Moonbase."

"Then you had me watched? Though you said you'd trust me?"

"I wish I could have. But I will not be betrayed again."

"A vain hope, Lady Saazbaum-Troyard," Astrid faced Slaine at attention, mouth set like iron, "You were a good, brave knight. But betrayers are always betrayed."

The search for Sergeant Astrid Treskow ended at an open airlock and missing spacesuit. It was suggested that she had faked her death, and defected to the Terrans. But Countess Slaine Saazbaum-Troyard dismissed such ideas out of hand.

"My father, Count Saazbaum, promoted Miss Treskow from the Third Class; she was devoted to his interests. A servant of such exemplary loyalty would certainly follow her lord in death."

-0-

-0-

"Harklight. I'm very grateful you accepted this recognition. Miss Treskow used the rooms annexed to my own quarters; I don't intend to occupy my late father's suite. If you would prefer to room elsewhere–?"

"Not at all, Milady. As your personal servant, I should be ready at all times to serve your needs."

"And the people of Vers, Harklight. Suffering, voiceless, but strong."

"Milady…that is why I respect you with all my heart."

"Harklight. This will be an era for people like us."

Slaine strode away to the hanger, high boots clacking over the floor. Her crimson uniform darkened in the shadows and her mouth was frozen steel.

If he could see inside me. If he knew what I had done.

Behind her, Harklight entered Sergeant Treskow's late room. Her belongings had already been disposed of; his own sparse possession had been no trouble to move in. He would have to do something about that pink bedcover…then he found the envelope underneath it.

'To be opened in the event of my death. Astrid Treskow'.

Harklight tore it open. Read the letter twice. Then he took it through to the kitchenette and burnt it.


	5. Matters of the Heart

Prince Lemerius Vers Envers recalled nothing of his mother but a voice, and hair that shimmered through the darkness like his. He couldn't doubt she'd been strong, when she'd endured all she had. He chose to believe she had been killed in the act of escape, rather than merely silenced. In his first memories beyond the prison where he'd been born, she was gone. The Count who first told him to activate an Aldnoah drive had added that he wouldn't eat until he did.

In time, that Count had been disappeared, like his mother, and Clan Saazbaum had taken over the Moonbase. The illegitimate second Prince had lived in an eggshell of hollow deference and unheeded idleness. A sacred, delicate tool, and nothing else.

To learn anything, he'd needed to study people; to coax, cozen and charm until he finally had computer access. He'd learned enough science to train as a researcher, but nothing of arts, nothing of Earth. Nothing of Vers but Saazbaum's hate-filled lectures and his own life. Of course Saazbaum had told him all about the talents, triumphs and acclaim of his dear brother–grooming him for impersonation from the start. Without his wunderkind brother's tutors, he'd taught himself program coding and cryptanalysis. He could never have been a great fighter, with his legs–and Intelligence had long been the Versian military's unloved child.

He simply wasn't his brother, however he dreamed or pretended, and there was nothing else for him to be. As wasted years dragged on, he heard female servants call him the Princess on the Moon. Lemerius hardly blamed them. What could a crippled prisoner do for such strong, military women, outside his imagination?

And then the strongest, most enthralling woman in Vers walked into his suite. Dropped to one knee, and thanked him for his aid with hand on heart.

"…not at all! Poor Saazbaum named you his heir. For your loyalty, skill and daring, his title is your right."

"Highness…I fear that more than right is required, among the nobility, for a Terran orphan to retain so much as her honour and life. Left alone, by my father's death, I look for protection in your royal name. In return, I offer my allegiance, my strength and all my soul."

"Would you even…say why my kiss was repulsive to you?"

Slaine glanced up; Lemerius seemed transfixed. She related the circumstances of her first kiss.

"I'm sorry. Please…stand. Raise your head." She did so. Lemerius stared up, at her scars and her sea-like eyes, "I thought myself abused by the noblity, but you…and all they ever did, you overcame! A Terran orphaned girl, a spirit of steel and the stars–Countess Slaine Saazbaum Troyard! As Crown Prince Asseylum Vers Allusia, I will support you, even against Vers itself!"

He clung to her hand, and grinned with a child's joy. The young Countess smiled.

"Your words revive hope in my heart. I mean to complete my father's conquest of Earth; but I will be fighting to make you a place of honour. For my Prince's happiness and peace…"

"Yes…the Orbital Knights should see your strength. That will help you to win their support."

"For that, I must request the help of Prince Lemerius Vers Envers." Lemerius' breath caught in his throat, "Count Saazbaum mentioned your skill in codebreaking and analysis. If your Highness could extract the Terrans' plan to resupply Trident base from certain radio intercepts–then the Tharsis and I could destroy it."

"I believe I could accomplish that," Lemerius did his best to project aloof confidence rather than ecstasy, "So then, good hunting! My Countess."

"It is happiness to serve you. My Prince."

Lemerius was very grateful he couldn't read Slaine's mind when she said, 'My Prince'. But happier, as she bowed to him, than if adoring crowds had borne him up to his Grandfather's throne.

-0-

-0-

"Harklight. Indefinitely postpone all Lemerius' audiences, as Crown Prince Asseylum. Say we're reviewing security after my father's death; I'll explain the matter to Prince Lemerius myself." Slaine noted Harklight's surprise, slight as the signs were, and enlarged that the Orbital Knights would use any audience to slander her to the prince, "–or even find pretext for a duel. "

"Of course, Milady. My apologies."

He stood straight but ready before her new office desk, the imperturbable servant. Slaine clasped her hands, and leaned towards him.

"Harklight, I need you to speak your mind, trust my judgement–and never apologise. Our ends and our means do not allow it. You entered the Vers forces at fourteen, as a noble's servant, then a Stygis pilot. I need your knowledge, your skills, even your instincts–all of you. In brief, you'll find me a very different master to your last one."

"I must confess, Milady, I'm looking forward to the experience."

"Really?" Slaine sent a very tigerish smile at Harklight over her desk, "I'll do my best not to disappoint."

"Milady. With your assumption of the Saazbaum name, all junior Counts will be obliged to offer their respects via teleconference. Traditionally Counts of equal precedence should receive you at their Castles in person."

"Schedule the teleconferences; put off the house-calls as long as possible. They may value their tea-parties and shooting matches, but there is a war to be ended."

"Yes, Milady. Though, if I may…without openings to criticise your conduct, or provoke a duel, certain Orbital Knights may plot more drastic measures to undermine you."

"And then we will have charges to bring against them." Countess and servant smiled together, "One more thing. Keep Prince Lemerius supplied with coded intercepts, so he won't act on his own. And schedule at least an hour each day, whenever possible, for me to attend on him personally."

"I've already done so, Milady. I also ensured you have thirty minutes each day to spend with Prince Asseylum."

"Yes. That will be needed." Slaine closed her eyes. Harklight glanced away, "I have been called a traitor, a murderous animal–the Terran whore who seduced Prince Asseylum and her adoptive father. But none of it hurts now. Because there is nothing so dreadful I would not do it, for sake of Vers, and my Prince. I won't ask what you think of me….how do I look?"

Harklight had fitted Slaine's jacket and leggings to her body stunningly better than he'd intended. Her hair moved as she rose, like the first snowflakes of an avalanche. Her sea-blue eyes were fixed on his.

"You look...strong, Milady."

He knew what she wanted to hear. Perhaps he couldn't have expressed the truth. After twenty two years of cast-iron conformity, and suppression of human feeling, Slaine Troyard had burst on his life–into Vers itself–like a fireball over frozen wastes.

-0-

-0-

In the defence of Trident base Kei had shot down five Stygis, fought the Tharsis and Dioscuria, then very nearly died in a sudden meteor storm. Inko had barely pulled her best friend clear on a grappling wire. Now, Calm heard faint sobs from the cabin they shared. Nina was waiting, like him, outside the door.

"Hey. Can't you go in? You're their best friend."

"...yeah." Nina studied the floor. "But I couldn't ever have saved Kei like that. I don't know how they do it, or how they really feel, about, you know…almost dying."

The door slid open; Inko had clearly been shedding all the tears. Nina took one look, and flung both arms around her body.

"It's okay...oh, Nina-chan, thanks!"

"Inko-chan…how's Kei?"

"Okay. Still same as always...eh? Calm? If you want to confess, this isn't the time!"

"Amifumi, have you ever asked Kei to value her life?"

"...Yuki-nee tried. I...Calm, I can't bear to think of Kei hurt again, but we have to fight. And I can only fight because she's there."

-0-

-0-

Kaizuka Kei put away the Prince's pendant, got off the bed where she had been lying in her skirt uniform, and followed Calm to the hanger.

"Sorry for damaging the Sleipnir again. If you could repair it as swiftly as the last time, that would be a great help."

"Sure thing. No worries." Calm couldn't help smiling at her aplomb, "How many Vers have you beaten now? Pillbug and Silver Samurai. Asura, Frosty…"

"You finished the Pillbug. Under non-optimal circumstances, you did exceptionally well."

"Well, I couldn't do it again. I almost deserted after Siberia...but I had to avenge Okisuke, and I...Kaizuka-san..."

"Calm, there's something I should have told you before."

"Huh?"

"About me. And Okisuke."

"Huh?"

"Back in Shinwara, when he fell from our transport trying to help Yuki-nee, I was close enough to reach him. But I didn't. The drag force would have pulled me after him, if I'd tried to catch his hand...I was too weak to save your friend. I'm sorry."

Kei's face was still. But Calm saw her right hand spasm, and seized it in both of his.

"Don't say that! You couldn't have saved him."

"I know. I only thought you wouldn't forgive me, if you knew."

"Listen to me. I forgive you, and I'm glad we didn't lose you too." Calm's heart leapt, as Kei gave a tiny smile.

"Thank you, Calm. This has been a good day, hasn't it? I told you about Okisuke. Prince Asseylum is alive on the moon, and the Count who shot him is dead. Three things to be grateful for."

"What about being grateful you're alive?" Calm's face was grim now, as his grip tightened, "You might have beaten all those Kats–they might call you Athena, the wise war goddess–but you're no goddess, you're mortal! Every time the White Kat shows up, you nearly get killed. You couldn't predict the meteor swarm–if Inko hadn't been there you would have died!"

"I am aware that I will die if I'm killed. But in this war, I could not protect my own life or any other by refusing to fight."

"That's not what I mean! You charge in like you had to win the war alone! And I know that bionic sharingan isn't safe, Kei! I'm begging you, as a friend, value your life!"

"I don't intend to die, Calm. I need to protect you, Inko and Nina, and find Asseylum–"

"NO! No, Kei, your life means more than that! You're a genius, magnificent, beautiful girl…you can't give your life for a Martian who's our enemy!"

Instantly, Kei wrenched her hand from Calm's grasp.

"Asseylum was shot trying to save me. His blood fell on my face. He is not a traitor, Calm."

"Kei!" As she turned, he seized her shoulder, "He's a Martian! Stop letting your feelings make you blind! Just don't die, or I will never, ever forgive you!"

"Would your forgiveness save Asseylum? Or Okisuke? Even one of the men who died before my eyes?" They were cold as stones–Calm's hand fell limp, "I must save Prince Asseylum; there is no one to save him but me. Your feelings cannot effect my choice, and they cannot save me."

She walked away, kitty-heels clacking on steel. Calm drifted back to his room, fell on his bunk, and cursed the Prince, the Martians, the UFE and himself for some time. When he had finished, Wolf was leaning over him. The renegade Martian quietly suggested a gaming binge.

-0-

-0-

The Deucalion had been ordered from Trident to Parnassos Base, with the intention of raiding convoys headed for Marineros or the Moonbase. There was nothing they could do, when Trident was attacked through an impassable asteroid field by a single Kataphract. As a major ammo shipment was half-way through the hanger doors.

Kei pictured how the Tharsis had fought her, flickering from rock to rock. A dancing white demon, barely escaping her eye with every shot. Slaine Troyard. Quickly angered under pressure, from her movements, but shrewd and impossibly bold. She had wrecked Trident Base, with the aid of a codebreaker–for what?

Revenge? She must've known I'd left Trident with the main force. Hatred? She didn't attack an Earth city. Respect? And for what does she need that?

-0-

-0-

"The scarred alley-cat has draped herself in a tiger's pelt."

Barouhcruz said it, a dozen people heard it–and even Marylcian repeated it. With the wreckage of Trident behind her and the Earth ahead, Countess Slaine Saazbaum-Troyard was the Tiger of Vers.

-0-

-0-

As soon as he heard Slaine had a new attendant, Lemerius sought a quiet word. He laboriously intimated that Harklight might, perhaps, possess more experience than he of communicating respect and admiration to the fairer sex…?

"A little, Highness. Gentler steps are usually required, before a lady may be kissed in public–"

"Go on, kick a man while he's down!" Lemerius glared daggers at Harklight, who quickly apologised.

"I can suggest an invitation to dinner, or afternoon tea? Gifts of jewellery are the thing among courting nobility, but they would hardly go with the Countess's uniform."

"Um…" Edward piped up, "On Earth, a child gave Prince Asseylum a flower made of paper. Countess Troyard often talks–I mean talked!–to his Highness about flowers, too."

"I see. Thank you, Mr Edward."

"Flowers? Plants? How can they be given, if they're planted in the ground?"

The very essence of efficiency, Harklight delegated Edward to find out more about these 'flowers', while he rescheduled a supply shuttle from Earth. His research uncovered the surprising facts that 'candles' and 'soft music' were much appreciated by Terran ladies–Mars had all the light it needed from Aldnoah, and no music beyond military choirs. He knew enough to dim the lights in Lemerius's suite, accentuating a galaxy of starlight. A lonely red hill, and a sky full of stars, had been enough for his Third-Class mother and father to fall in love

Everything was in place to celebrate Slaine's destruction of Trident. She walked in, and simply gasped. With a tremulous smile, Lemerius offered up the bouquet.

"Prince Lemerius…why? How…?"

"I…they're for you. Red flowers. The colour of Vers."

"No." Slaine smiled as no one present had ever seen her smile, "The meaning of red roses is love."

Lemerius looked close to fainting with joy, as she took the roses from his hands. With a strange pain, Harklight realised this was a first for them both.

She laughed, as they went to the table. Smiled at him, as he pulled out her chair. It was more than enough–with the flowers in one hand, and the gawking Edward's collar in the other, he left the Prince and his Lady together.

-0-

-0-

Before he met Slaine, Lemerius hadn't known what enthralling meant. Her voice was a soft contralto, rich with secrets. She moved with a tiger's grace and assurance. He dreamt about her body…

"Highness?"

"Ah, Slaine–that new uniform looks very good on you!" She smiled, batting her eyes. Lemerius gulped his wine, and sought another line of attack, "Isn't this steak excellent? The taste and smell of vacuum-pack food doesn't compare. You must be glad to eat real Terran food again?"

"Steak is certainly nicer than plankton–though I grew used to it, after a year on Mars."

"Slaine…." The Prince took her hand across the table, "On Mars–as a soldier, in terrible battles–you've endured so much."

"I survived. I…had hope." Her eyes were still, but sad, "I had to grow very strong to protect it."

"You're certainly a dangerous woman, Countess Troyard. But I've never felt so safe as when you're with me."

"It is my duty to protect you, Highness. Even if it cost my life."

"But, Slaine…there should be someone to protect and care for you." The Prince looked her in the eyes, and squeezed her hand. "How is that you never feel afraid?"

"It doesn't feel as if I might die, when I have something to live for. Or with nothing to live for, it doesn't matter if I survive or not."

Whether Slaine had hope, dead hope, or something in between, Lemerius couldn't ask. His brother's silent body might have been laid out in the candlelight between them. He took his hand away–but she caught and held it.

"Highness. In some ways you've suffered more than I. It might be better to have loved and lost, than to have always been alone…thank you for your concern, your Highness."

"…I wonder. Can one without hope find a new reason, to live and fight? One utterly alone, who is alone no longer…" Lemerius smiled like the moon, "…has the most exquisite joy."

"Thank you, my Prince. If I forget my reason again, I will remember your words." Her smile was shining–something hit Lemerius' heart, between joy and pain.

Sea-blue eyes, that it seemed nothing could disturb. Even her scars were full of strength–yet Lemerius burned to protect his Royal Knight. The hatred of Terra and Vers around her, a lifetime of torment within. How could he be anything to her, if he couldn't touch her pain?

They finished their meal quietly. Harklight took the plates, came back with a teapot.

"Thank you for a wonderful evening. My Prince."

"Not at all. You've striven and fought so much, for a world and a kingdom. It is wonderful that we can have such happiness together."

She allowed him to kiss both her hands. Lemerius had never felt happier, and never less satisfied.

-0-

-0-

"Thank you for a wonderful evening, Harklight."

Harklight discovered later that romantic music wasn't conventionally Ride of the Valkyries and the 1812 Overture. Also his suppliers could have picked a better wine, with a world to plunder, than the one looted from a bombed-out corner shop. But it mean nothing–his Lady's smile for him showed nothing but joy.

Lemerius knew suffering, but soldiers and Third-Class children learnt what brokenness meant. Nothing in the universe, Harklight believed, could be more beautiful than a scarred seventeen-year-old's face where joy had returned.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it, Milady. It was His Highness's original idea."

"He's a sweet boy, isn't he?" Once more, Slaine's lips were grim, "I truly wish to protect Prince Lemerius, Harklight. Though it hardly atones for the wrong I mean to do by him."

"This evening gave the Prince much happiness, Milady."

It will not last, Harklight. Misery ensnares the ones who touch my life. Even if I could give that sweet boy my love, I never would.

Slaine walked away from Harklight, towards the medical chamber. He knew she would kneel beside her silent Prince in tears. With her betrayal, that she could not ask him to forgive.

In a couple of months, as Harklight guessed, Countess Troyard and Prince Asseylum would be engaged. To protect her Prince, and end a war, she would make the lies that had cursed her into truth.

Harklight returned to his Lady's rooms and stayed up until two, checking intelligence reports. He could never stand at her side, before her Prince's body. Her brokenness, and her love, were more than he could ever have stood to look on.

-0-

-0-

On her way through the troposphere to the Deucalion's new posting in Yemen, Kei helped to defeat the Sirenum Kataphract, and capture Count Mazuurek alive. A few days later, she and Inko secretly released the Count, and drove him away into the desert.

"…to think that is why the sky of Terra is blue. Could you possible describe the formation of clouds one more time, my lady?" Kei did so. "Fascinating! Earth truly is a planet of wonders."

"…follow the compass, and you should arrive at your Castle in less than a week. Please, be careful."

"Or you'd lose the agent you deceived your own people to acquire?"

"Or we'd lose the only Count who might want to learn about the Earth, before laying it waste."

"…may I?" Kei allowed Mazuurek to brush her hand with his lips, "I will fulfil my word to you, Miss Kaizuka. If only our worlds were not at war…"

"If only you were ten years younger, I'd consider it." Inko giggled so much, she almost dropped the gun. Unabashed, Mazuurek set off into the desert night.

The next day, a UFE convoy in East Africa was attacked en route to the site of a planned offensive. Hours later, Kaizuka Yuki frogmarched Kei to her room, and showed her a video of Countess Saazbaum-Troyard, speaking from Castle Rafia, Addis Ababa.

"…today, in response to the capture of Orbital Knight Count Mazuurek, General Tsehaye of the African UFE was taken prisoner, along with his staff. The UFE will prove it retains the bare vestiges of honour, by an immediate prisoner exchange. I know what it is to be a prisoner. To be at the mercy of the merciless. If my brother Count is harmed, at all…! If he is not exchanged within twelve hours, other means of redress will be considered."

"I saw you releasing the Versian prisoner, Kei. Why?"

"He agreed to discover the location of the real Prince Asseylum. Troyard is bluffing about the deadline, so don't worry, Yuki-nee. Negotiators will stall her a few days, and then Mazuurek will be back in his Castle–"

"KEI!" Yuki gripped her sister's shoulders, "Didn't you realise you could be shot at dawn for this?"

"Yes. I'm sorry you saw me, Yuki-nee. I didn't want to involve anyone else."

"Well, you did! And you're still not sorry you did it!" Face livid, Yuki was on the brink on tears, "Do you think no rule applies to you?"

"'Playing by the rules' will not win this war, Yuki-nee. The only rule left is that people will die, if I make the wrong choice."

"I'm serious, Kei. Promise never to risk your life on a crazy plan again."

"You know I cannot do that, Yuki-nee. Are you going to take this to Mag–?"

Yuki slapped Kei's face.

"You know I won't do that, Kei. I–don't–know–what–to–do–with–you–anymore!" Every word was a sob, "I know you've never needed a sister–you've never cared how I feel, and you never let me touch your pain!"

Yuki stumbled out, towards her own room. Kei's knees sagged to the floor, shock frozen on her face. Then Inko was dashing in, arms out, pulling Kei's head to her shoulder and telling her to cry it out.

After it failed to bring back her parents, Kei had never cried again. But she buried her face in the shirt of her last remaining friend, for a long time.


	6. Riding the Whirlwind

"Major-General Solomon Tsehaye, Ethiopian UFE. Anti-insurgency veteran, leader of the Somalian expedition since 2011. Without him, yet another state quietly gives up the fight–I didn't tell you that, by the way. Troyard has been informed that we don't have Mazuurek. She extended her deadline to thirty-six hours. What do you suppose she wants?"

Kei remembered Slaine's face, covered in scars and tears. After she had shot Prince Asseylum's killer. Before she had taken her Prince away.

"Not to kill the General, I think. Her previous actions have been finely calculated–"

"She pistol whipped your face!"

Kei stared at Yuki, but her sister didn't meet her eye. She turned back to the Deucalion strategy meeting.

"The Versians may exchange the General for Mazuurek's Kataphrakt. Its Aldnoah drive was undamaged."

Magbaredge stared over his glasses at Kei. However outrageous his manners were towards 'dateless, unfeminine women', like poor Mizusaki, he was a sharp judge of talent. And determined to bring Earth out of the war at any cost.

"Only the Deucalion could transport the Sirenum fast and safely enough. Which is worth more, Ensign Kaizuka? Slaine Troyard's death, or a country we've practically lost?"

"Understood, Sir."

They were as ready to break the rules as each other. Yuki had never hated Dan Magbaredge more.

The Versians proved eager to exchange the Sirenum for Tsehaye and his officers. The Deucalion was en route to Ethiopia within the hour.

-0-

-0-

Like Macbeth, the late Count Saazbaum had employed spies within most of the 37 Clans. A report from Castle Barouhcruz, passed on by Harklight, had informed Slaine of Mazuurek's situation. Orga, Zebrin and Rafia had been interested to hear the news, but shocked that Slaine meant to recover such an eccentric nonentity.

"Mazuurek concerns me less than the honour of the 37 Clans. And His Highness's will; that we combine our powers for the total conquest of Terra. This operation will be a call to every Clan that loves their nation above selfish intrigue. A warning, that Vers can avenge any Terran offensive, at any time. Finally…I believe an Orbital Knight could only have been taken alive by the Orange Kataphrakt. It was at Novosibirisk. Had it not been at Trident, I might have saved my father from death. For Vers, and for his memory, I hope to draw it out and settle our account."

That had settled matters for Orga; the junior nobles had followed suit. Rafia brought out some top-level coded intercepts. Zebrin revealed that his intelligence unit had cracked that code some months ago. A Sky Carrier shielded by Tharsis clairvoyance could drop Slaine anywhere, at the right time to meet Tsehaye's convoy. A little trust made it so easy.

Of course, to achieve its purpose, the broadcast had to be provocative; she finished it breathing hard. Rafia laid her hands on the younger Countess's shoulders.

"Let all of it out, girl. You couldn't tell Orga, or Zebrin. How could they know the fury of a woman in the power of her enemies? I believe you will be a great Orbital Knight."

"Certainly got nerve, for a little girl. Accusing us of lying and torture."

General Solomon Tsehaye had been led out in handcuffs for the broadcast. He was a tall man in his fifties, with a head wound from when Slaine had flipped his jeep. His face was carved and cracked obsidian.

"That's really what you believe, Terran?" Rafia forcefully pinched his cheek, "That your side don't torture, lie, or assassinate?"

"You blasted our cities to dust. Some of our boys went crazy. But I never ordered murder or torture. Nor the High Council, nor any commander I worked with."

"Then you've worked with every Terran commander? And know all the High Council's dirty secrets?" Slaine stepped in beside Rafia, "The UFE don't even send you enough weapons to defend yourselves–we know they all go to China, Russia and Europe. Why not make a place for yourself in the Versian Empire? If some 'little girl' could rise to nobility, what could you do, or your nation?"

Tsehaye stared at Slaine so hard, she wished to be still in the Tharsis. Though he talked directly to her, every guard and worker in the room heard every word.

"Little girl. In three thousand years my nation has never allowed itself be colonized. Through famine and war, we have advanced, beside every nation on God's Earth! United Earth, and all its failure, will pass away. As God leads us, we will still seek justice, true brotherhood and peace. If it takes a thousand years to get there–if no country is further away than mine–by the grace of God, we are advancing! But you Martians are going back. Falling back down into the pit! You sold out God and humanity, for some alien toys. New Humanity? Worse savages than the Somalian gangsters! Better escape these pirates while you can, girl. UE may have mercy if you repent, and the Lord most certainly will!"

"A gallant speech!" Raffia clapped mockingly, "Not bad for a Terran monkey."

Slaine couldn't meet the chained Tsehaye's eyes. It was some time before she spoke.

"...my nation is less than forty years old, General. We have done much, but have much to do. The 37 Clans will combine their strength; our Empire will advance beyond all past achievements of humanity, and your people will be part of it. Because this war will be won by Mars, in the name of Prince Asseylum Vers Allusia!"

"Do you know what seven things the Lord detests, little girl? Haughty eyes. A lying tongue. Hands that shed innocent blood. A heart that devises wicked schemes! One who stirs up conflict–!" Raffia's guards hauled Tsehaye to the door, "My men! You mean to hurt them, you'd better shoot me now–!" The door slammed behind him.

"Well. That Terran seemed rather haughty himself. Eh, Countess?"

"Oh. Yes."

Slaine felt suddenly chilled–Tsehaye had skewered her sins. But what else could she have done, except give in? Who else would save her Prince? Who else, but her Prince, could have saved her?

"So. Are you the sort of girl who talks about jewellery, and engagements?" Rafia cracked her knuckles. "Or would you prefer a few practise rounds of sparring?"

"Sparring, definitely." Slaine rather welcomed the prospect of pinning Rafia down and choking her, after the monkey comment.

It took many rounds for her to pin Rafia. Afterwards, she swore friendship to Slaine Troyard unto death–Slaine was surprised to feel so grateful for it.

-0-

-0-

Two Areions dragged the wrecked Sirenum across barren fields. More Kats and African troops, many very young, waited behind them. The ceasefire observance record of both sides was very bad; every trigger finger was poised. In the forest ahead of them, Vers troops had already filed from a Sky Carrier, and dug in. The Tharsis gleamed in the sunlight.

Slaine wasn't disappointed. Her screen focused in on one Kat at the rear of the enemy. Orange in a crowd of desert tan.

The Sirenum would have been worth it, but this…was a trap. Even against the Tharsis, Miss Orange was placed to slip away–and, of course, she'd have a plan. Even if Slaine escaped it, she would have broken a ceasefire, and endangered Raffia's men for nothing.

Unneeded death was horrific. Needful death was…needful. She had shot down the enemy on this Credo, and let comrades die at her side–though dreams, homes and loves attended every one. For her Prince, they had to die, and she was the killer who would make it so.

But she had fought beside Miss Orange. She knew her voice; her mind like an unstoppable machine. She owed Kaizuka Kei the scars on her face, the coat on her back, the ice in her heart. She was the only person left alive that she hated.

She had to throw her off balance. Draw her in. Slaine opened a communication channel with the African commander, a slim but fierce looking Nigerian woman.

"Colonel T'any? I would be willing to exchange General Tsehaye and his staff for the Sirenum–and the pilot of the Orange Kataphrakt."

"You think we're gonna sell you our people?" The Colonel snapped.

"But she's not 'your people' is she? Quite another people. I will only continue these negotiations with Kaizuka Kei, herself, face to face."

As the Colonel growled protests, Slaine stood up in the Tharsis and popped the hatch. She braced her legs above the sensor screen, her back against the hatch, poking her head into the open air.

-0-

-0-

"Tell everyone to hold fire, now."

"Hold your fire!" T'any bawled.

Kei looked from Slaine's face, to the Versians shouting at her not to expose herself. Back at–the analytical eye whirred them into focus–her sea-blue eyes.

"Kaizuka!" Magbaredge's voice came through, "Is this your big plan? Talking?"

"One of them, Sir. I believe this is worth the risk."

She is the enemy. Whatever her objective, I will almost certainly have to kill her–but, for some reason, I still want to find out.

Kei's Slepnir advanced steadily, towards Slaine.

Are you Prince Asseylum's enemy? Or his friend? Did you mean to exploit him, to gain power for yourself? Or did you do everything for him, and still lose your friend…like I lost my friends…?

"Hold your fire!"

Most of the African soldiers had lost family and loved ones, since Castle Rafia came down on Addis Ababa. All of them had lost comrades. All of them held their fire, except one.

Slaine glanced down. In the cockpit below, a red attack prediction flashed– Slaine released her legs, and plopped down in her seat. A sniper's bullet spanged off the hatch lid where she had been, and all the Versians started shouting and firing. Kei was caught in the open–shocked.

"Perfidious Terrans," Slaine grinned, "So predictable."

The Areions with the Sirenum were in front of Kei–a missile wrecked one and Slaine blasted the other. She finally moved, but Slaine had a bead on her. Then something hit her back. She thumped down in a plume of dust. The Areion that had pushed her was blown apart, by the volley aimed to finish her.

Kei did not snarl, or scream out rage. But something fixed in her eyes; she let off a cannon-burst with devastating aim.

Out of control, Batgirl. I must stop you.

I would really have liked to talk, Miss Orange. But you need to die.

Swerving about, the Tharsis drove its fist down at the Slepnir's back. Kei gunned a thruster, sent her Kat flying away on one side, still firing. The shells glanced off a well-placed shield. The answering volley blew off the Slepnir's arm. Their duels in space had been across miles and minutes; on Earth it was metres and seconds.

More Areions fired on the Tharsis from range; the white Kataphrakt ducked behind the immobile Sirenum. Then Kei saw the Tharsis leap far away, and she had barely thrown the Slepnir behind a wrecked Areion, when the bomb in the Sirenum went off.

Slaine breathed out, and checked in with her troops. From the explosion and enemy fire, they had taken several casualties. Areions were charging through the smoke. Two were already covering the Slepnir's retreat.

"All troops pull back; I will cover you. Do not harm the Terran prisoners."

"Ah, Milady…" Slaine's stomach turned to ice.

"I said don't hurt them!"

-0-

-0-

"Who fired the first shot?" Magbaredge glared at Colonel T'Any, who glared back.

"Some dumb hick. A Martian sniper got him anyway."

"Who put the bomb in the Sirenum?"

"That would be me. Commander."

"Savages…"

T'Any punched Magbaredge in the jaw. Several of her men and the Deucalion crew reached for sidearms, as she screamed;

"What you call us? Oyinbo! What do you know about war, with your flying battleship? The Martians killed my parents, my grandparents, my brother! On the southern front, they wipe another village out every week! We must destroy their Castles and Kataphrakts, kill every last one! And we cannot do that without a price in lives!"

"You can't even kill them then!" Magbaredge snapped back, "I know your record, Colonel. Two grade promotion for stopping a Nilokeras outside Lagos. Then the Versians destroyed Abuja with meteorites in reprisal; you were transferred to a quieter front. But you didn't know when to stop, did you? One Kat wasn't enough. I expect this front will soon be far less quiet. But you won't be here to see it."

"I never cared about promotion, or glory," T'Any's eyes were like liquid fire, "We must kill the Martians, or they will kill all of us." Magbaredge stalked out. Kei, her arm in a sling, paused to ask about the Areion pilot who'd saved her life. "Another dumb hick. His hometown is close; the funeral is next week."

"Thank you, Ma'am." Kei limped out, and walked beside Magbaredge.

"Remember that stupid woman, Kaizuka. First time one of your plans goes south, you're going the same way."

"Yes, Sir. I'll remember to avoid the same mistakes."

Kei certainly remembered the pilot's funeral. She had to wear a headscarf and remove her shoes to enter the church. The coffin was draped in bright cloths; the solemn icons of saints and angels seemed overwhelmingly compassionate. The whole service was in Geez, the Ethiopian Orthodox ceremonial language; but Kei asked about it later. It hadn't described the divine judgement and utter destruction awaiting the murderous Versians, as she'd half-expected. It had been about the son of God, who descended to Earth. Tortured, degraded, forced to carry his cross and die on it, without the slightest resistance–because of the love that laid down life for its friends.

She'd never spoken to the pilot, and done nothing for him. But he had died. She had fought to meet her Prince again; to explore the world of strange insights and imperatives he had opened to her…but this was worth considering too. And she was very glad that all her friends–the Deucalion's entire crew–attended the funeral too.

-0-

-0-

"Rafia. Why did your men shoot my prisoners?"

"Teach their friends a lesson. I'd promised the Sirenum to Baroness Astarte–"

"They were valuable prisoners. We are soldiers, not terrorists!"

"It was a mistake. Still, I presume you weren't planning to get captured?"

"Not now, at least. The guard that shot Tsehaye and his aide–he would have killed all the prisoners, if I'd been slower. What will his punishment be?"

"Countess Troyard. Two weeks ago, a patrol of my men were hacked to death by irregular fighters. My officers petitioned me to wipe the three nearest villages out, but I refused. I fight against soldiers. No honour in killing woman and children, no satisfaction–and enough of them died right here, when it was Addis Ababa. That patrol should have had more spirit than to surrender anyway," Raffia sighed, and went on, "We're supposed to hold absolute power, but you'll find it's very different to be obeyed with pleasure, and obeyed with resentment. Now after two weeks, some Terrans are dead, and all is happy in Castle Rafia once more. Barely two thousand brave souls, with hostile natives on every side…I can't punish that guard, Countess Troyard. Please understand."

"…I understand. But remember that women and children, and your men, will all continue to die, until the day we end this war."

-0-

-0-

Though the Moonbase was theoretically self-sufficient from plankton farms, more luxurious food was regularly shuttled up as tribute from the Clans to their Prince. As well as commanding the Moonbase in his Lady's absence, planning out her meals and appointments, dealing with her correspondence and reports, publicising her exploits, amusing her Prince, and preparing her reading list (strictly in his spare time, he also watched videos of his Lady's battles, made sure that her room was perfectly clean for her to return to and practise his handicraft skills) he also found time to inspect every incoming shuttle. While lives had been taken for the sake of his Lady's dreams, his own life had been freely given; nothing that might harm her could go unwatched.

This shuttle had brought tribute from Count Orga. Security scans on the ship and cargo were clean; the men's papers all in order. But a few workers, piling venison into a mobile freezer, didn't look like practised spacers. Their eyes were flicking about the hanger, rolling between nervous awe and fear. And while most of Vers were descended from Chinese and Russian colonists, Middle Eastern descent was quite uncommon.

"You there! What were His Majesty's final words spoken on Terra?"

All Versian children memorised Regregalia's biography; failure to quote chapter and verse was a flogging offence. The worker's eyes bulged. Harklight's eyes narrowed–

"Idiot! 'I go to Vers, my beloved home!'! Uh, Page 534, paragraph 3, Sir!" A Chinese-Versian worker smacked his colleague's head, "He's a bit dense, Sir. Please, Sir, forgive him?"

"…very well. Your loyalty is commendable. Long live Vers!"

"Yes, Sir! Long live, ah, Vers!"

-0-

-0-

"Is everything alright, Sir?"

In the hanger control room, Corporal Renata put her head on one side. She had short dark hair and a soft voice; Harklight trusted her as a good soldier and excellent communication specialist. He looked out over the hangar, and stroked his chin.

"It was unusually courteous of Count Orga's workers to give the salute in Clan Saazbaum form. We use the standard 'Long live Vers'. For Clan Orga, it's 'Long live sacred Vers'. They're rather proud of it. Of course, Clan Marylcian uses 'Long live glorious Vers'. Did he barely stop himself saying that? And Marylcian's territory was in the Middle East."

"We can't search a Clan Orga shuttle without better cause, Sir. I could hack the ship's comm logs and records, but that will take time."

As Harklight nodded, a holo-message flashed up for him. It was the hangar foreman–the cargo unloaded from the shuttle came to about 1000 lb less than on paper.

"In the name of Countess Slaine Troyard, I'm putting this base on alert, Corporal. Have the shuttle searched and the crew held. Relay the order–I will take full responsibility."

Within minutes, Harklight had another message from military police. Three shuttle crew had not been found within permitted areas.

"Sir, you were right!" Renata stared rather longingly at Harklight, but quickly recovered, "I'll order His Highness escorted to the security block, and reserve guards sent to him–"

"His Highness will be in move danger if he moves. 1000 lb is enough for a bomb; send the reserve to the environmental control room, gravity-drive and other vital base systems.

"Their target is the Moonbase?" Renata went pale, as her fingers raced.

"Yes…no." Harklight's eyes were narrow, and grim like a hunting dog, "Their target is my Lady's honour."

-0-

-0-

Two days after the bungled exchange, Raffia's Scandia Kataphract launched a new attack to the north. A UFE transport boat was rushing a platoon of Kataphrakts downriver to assist. Then the Tharsis fell on the deck from the sky, lunging for the one Orange Kataphrakt among desert tan. Which exploded.

Kei had seen the Tharsis evade a single explosion, so she timed two charges to blow while Slaine was still ringing from the first one. Then four, then the rest. All the Kats on the ship were damaged and pilotless. The ship itself was under remote-control.

As the Tharsis leapt from the railing to the bank, the ship went up like a petrol tanker. The landing was ugly; Slaine's forehead hit the console, and pain shot through her leg. Then she rolled, screaming out as her leg twisted; an Areion sniper shell hit dirt beside her. Miles away, Kei's tablet received an alert.

"Slaine Troyard. You'll find there is more than one KG-6 Sleipnir on this planet. And so many KG-7 Areions around you. So many more to come, when they hear of a damaged Versian Kat. If you fight your way through them, in your current state, and then meet us–will you perhaps, surrender?"

The Sky Carrier Slaine had dropped from flew in too low; the Areions charging in around her shot it down. Slaine smelt the blood in her hair. She slowed her breathing, gritted her teeth, and raced through a web of cannon fire, to the wreckage.

The pilot was dead. She was alone. The first aid kit–she pulled out a splint. Blasted an Areion as it appeared over a hill; the rest moved more cautiously to attack her all at once.

There are no miracles. To live, I must fight. To see my Prince's glorious face, once more–I must kill. I will fight, by any means. I will never surrender!

-0-

-0-

On their way to the Moonbase oxygen-plant with their bomb, the three infiltrators were intercepted. One was shot resisting arrest, another surrendered, the last one fled. When Harklight arrived, he was told that a child had been taken hostage.

"Edward?"

"I'm sorry, Harklight! I wanted to help!"

Harklight spent over thirty minutes persuading the saboteur that he knew he was a Terran, his Lady had been a Terran, he had the greatest respect for Terrans, and treated all prisoners with true Versian honour–the second the man's grip on his weapon relaxed, Harklight felled him with a textbook left cross.

"Um, thanks. Mr Harklight." The youngest son of a Count, Edward had never called a commoner 'mister' in all his life.

News came that day of Mazuurek's return, and Countess Troyard's disappearance over enemy lines. Prince Lemerius was distraught. Harklight simply went through his duties as usual, supressing all fear or feeling. Within forty-eight hours the Tharsis rolled back into Castle Rafia, blackened and battered, carrying a dead pilot, and a half-dead Countess. When her shuttle docked at the Moonbase, she collapsed into Lemerius' arms. Harklight had to carry her to the medical wing, then to her Prince, then to bed.

-0-

-0-

"Why exactly do Versian Kataphrakts have no safety-belts, Harklight?"

"I believe the noble designers felt they would never be required, Milady."

Slaine had summoned her attendant as soon as she woke. She was lying back in a plaster-cast, and a red dressing gown that Harklight had made at her request. Lemerius had already sent flowers and grapes.

"Oh, Harklight…you're the perfect Versian serving man, aren't you? Efficient. Suppressed. Omni-capable. All-enduring. All a commoner must be, to advance and survive. I understand, Harklight. And I understand your true feelings." Her hand rested on his jacket, "For the people like us, for the ones helpless to fight for themselves, this country must be cured."

"My Lady…since I was a boy, I have felt something wrong in our country. Justice and hope are twisted lies. But I had no dream that Vers might change, until I met you–it is honour and happiness, Milady, to support your dreams…"

As Slaine's dressing gown fell open, Harklight strove to avert his eyes. He hoped sincerely his Lady didn't see all his feelings...he idolized her strength, he bled for her brokenness, and he fought down impossible, undeniable desire in silence. She was seventeen years of trauma; he would never breathe a word.

Far beneath her confident manner, Slaine was screaming and ripping hair from her head. She had not been there. Her Prince had been threatened. She might have lost him. She would not leave the Moonbase. Never again.

"Harklight. Thank you, for stopping those saboteurs. I know their bomb was defective; if they had planted it on the Moonbase, I'd have been finished. You protected Lemerius, and my Prince, while I was gadding around Africa to no purpose…"

"Perhaps not, Milady. While returning to Castle Rafia, you eliminated a large portion of all Kataphrakts in the region. Countess Rafia is sweeping through East Africa without resistance, Count Zebrin has begun an offensive in the south, and they seem likely to meet in the centre, within months. And Rafia has attributed all her success to you, Milady."

"Doubtless to curry favour with Clan Saazbaum, and His Highness. Well, she'll get it." Slaine still smiled, lying back again, "As for the bombers, are they really Terrans?"

"The two survivors are, Milady; the dead one was probably Vers. Unaided Terrans could never have infiltrated Orga's shuttle. The prisoners still claim to be UFE…but they're from Marylcian's former territory, and show fear at his name. They won't implicate the Count while their families are in his power."

"Of course." Slaine's eyes were deadly bleak, "This was all his plot."

"Marylcian has even been urging Count Orga to clear himself by putting blame on you, Milady. I've done all I can to deflect his insinuations…."

"….but something must be done, and only I can do it. He'll challenge me to a duel if I insult his hair."

"I can imagine your feelings, Milady–but please, take some rest. The Tharsis needs repairs, and you are not a machine."

Slaine leaned back and smiled again. Just as he had persuaded her to eat regular meals, Harklight always accepted her feelings entirely. Then gradually persuaded her that his way was best.

"I'll wait for the morning. If you tell me about yourself, Harklight. Your life on Mars. Your family."

He sat down and told her. His father had repaired citywide radiation shielding, and died of skin-cancer at thirty five. His mother had been assigned to an outlying farm project, and killed in a dust storm. His brother had been shot for stealing food. His sister had been killed in Castle Saazbaum at Novosibirisk; she had been a Third-Class kitchen skivvy.

"…when I found myself alone in the world, Milady, I made my peace with death. I will not hesitate to die for your dreams, my Lady."

"Your family must have loved you, Harklight. And I can tell that you loved them. Please tell me more about your parents."

Haltingly, he told on. A harsh, bare life, glowing with love, and little dreams–Slaine could barely imagine it.

Tomorrow she would kill again. For her Prince's sake, the whirlwind would sweep her on. Her wicked life was nothing, next to his fragile future. Nothing, even next to this man at her side, who said he would die for her.


	7. The Betrayer

The dress was a green velvet extravaganza, ordered from Milan by the late Empress. At twelve years old, Slaine wore it like a hedge. Clad in jewellery, perfume and make-up, as well as a fiery blush, she shuffled out of the closet to her Prince. He softly whistled and applauded.

"You look ravishing, Miss Troyard. A true Lady of Vers."

"Thank you for your kindness." The blush pushed deeper into snow white cheeks, "Perhaps one day I'll be able to wear such finery."

"Yes. On the day there is true peace, between Terra and Vers, I'd like to hold a grand ball, beside a lake and a forest. There will be, (what do you call them?) boats and swans, food from Terra, and fireworks like the southern aurora of Vers. All Terra and Vers will be there, in the splendour of friendship–and I think you, Slaine, will be the fairest of them all! Now, why are you smiling? Does it sound an extravagant dream?"

"…no dream, Highness. A salvation, worthy of a prince! A future I might devote my heart and soul to, if I could ever be of service to your dreams…"

"Oh, Slaine. Nobody believes in peace here, except for you."

"I believe in…my Prince…" Then Slaine broke from his eyes, and stumbled back, "…I do believe the fairest lady of all should be your future wife and princess."

Prince Asseylum shifted uncomfortably, in his father's out-sized red jacket. Then he innocently gazed over Slaine's face, until she had to cling to a dresser for support.

"Well, yes…but good looks don't only come with rank, don't you know? Real beauty comes with goodness. And hope."

"And Love, your Highness. Whoever your princess may be…I know in my heart she will love you."

-0-

-0-

The dress was shining white silk, with a full skirt and lacy sleeves. Unmistakably, a dress for a Princess. Three days after she killed Count Marylcian, Slaine found herself facing a trembling Prince, and the dress. Lemerius tried to go down on one knee; he would have landed on hands and knees if she hadn't caught him.

"Highness. I am here."

"Slaine. My beautiful Countess. When you were almost lost, in Africa, I saw the truth. I could rule over Vers, with your strength at my side–over a kingdom of plenty, where none will suffer like us for their birth! Without you, I couldn't even live on. You've suffered and fought too long, Slaine. Please, let me protect you. Please. Be my princess."

"I…"

"I know. My brother still has your heart. I can only offer myself, Crown Prince of Vers, and all I could ever have to give. That I might simply ask you, Countess Slaine Saazbaum-Troyard…for your hand."

After Slaine's duel, Prince Lemerius had sallied out in the royal Olympus Kataphrakt, destroying the UFE Parnossos Base. One shot, without resistance, but it was the first battlefield action of Prince Asseylum Vers Allusia. The prince who would unite the 37 Clans, in a new victorious empire (Slaine understood) couldn't be overshadowed in valour by his fiancée.

She hadn't worn a dress since Mars; the memories still made her breath fail. Now, for a kingdom, and her Prince's dream of peace, she would stand in a white dress beside this innocent boy. Silent and devoted. As fair a Princess as powder and a veil could make of her scars.

What use was strength, when battles to shake the Earth would not wake her Prince? What did her childhood dreams matter, when his dream could live on only in lies? No Miracles. She would do whatever she must.

-0-

-0-

"Well. Here's to Sergeant John Humeray of Springfield, Virginia."

"We took it back for him, didn't we? Kampai, Lieutenant. And thank you."

Magbaredge and Marito clinked their coffees, and drank. They stared out together, over the ruins of New Orleans.

Refugees were already trickling back to their city with the dawn, even as ranks of Areions edged closer to Castle Selkanis. With their Count dead, his soldiers had no retreat or defence, but had met all surrender demands with silence–evidently preferring futile death over surrender to Terrans.

The river was stinking with debris, but Areions scorched by the Solis were already being hauled off. Someone in the distance was singing;

They have laid down their lives on this bloody battlefield,

Shouting the battlecry of freedom.

Their motto was resistance, to tyrants they'd not yield,

Shout, shout the battlecry of freedom!

Dixie forever! Land of the free!

Down with the redcoats, and up with UE…

Kei sat alone, at the heart of it all. After the night attack on the Solis, planned for months with every resource the UFE could spare, all fighters had been ordered to rest. Fresh pilots were preparing to assault the Castle. No one had a thing for her to do, and her eye was agony. She could envision a cloud of equations bursting her skull like a hive.

Another Count dead, a country freed. Would it end the war? It might. Or the next battle might, or the next one–if her mind could resist collapse that long.

Would Inko and Yuki smile like those ragged American kids, when they saw Shinawara again? She would not; Shinawara was a ruin. If her sister, her friends and her Prince were on the battlefield, then that was the ruin she could call home.

Asseylum. The boy who spoke of peace like indomitable certainty. She had to find him. The odds were towering–she would bring them down. She would find him. Even if she could not imagine what would come from it. Because she believed in numbers and logic, not fairytales.

"My sister barely speaks to me." She whispered, "Why do you feel like another part of myself?"

She stared at her hands, and thought of the silver pendant. Did Slaine Troyard feel this lonely all the time? How was it that she lived on…?

"Ensign! The mess hall shuts in thirty minutes."

For a moment, Kei gathered her resolve; then she turned to face her sister.

"That can wait, Officer Kaizuka. In last night's operation, you deliberately exposed yourself to the enemy."

"I had to distract the Solis." Her eyes were fierce, "I did what I had to."

"The laser that clipped your arm could have fried the Duecalion. Yuki. I felt…terrible. Please. Do not recklessly expose yourself, unless no other option exists!"

There were no tears or embraces. No spoken apology. Yuki signed, then smiled.

"Come on, Kei. Let's get lunch together."

-0-

-0-

Hours before the speech announcing their engagement, Prince Lemerius summoned Slaine to his suite. She found him torn between fury and tears.

"My love. Before you ask, this isn't about America. This is the moment to rally the Clans against our ascendant enemies, for a new leader to bring victory from defeat–I know that. I only don't know who that leader could be!"

"Highness, what do you mean?"

"It seems news of our engagement has leaked. All the Counts that might support us have written, applauding me lavishly for the destruction of Parnossos. And praising your victories, more than lavishly. With a hint every paragraph at what disaster Vers would risk if anything removed you from battle! In plain English they will only support their Prince as a war leader, if you retain military command."

Slaine fell to her knees. Seized Lemerius' trembling fist in her hands.

"Forgive me, Highness!"

"Slaine, I could never blame you, it's these cursed Counts! They respected my brother! Crown Prince Asseylum Vers Allusia. I took his face, I gave them their war, and they still do not respect me!"

"The nobles are selfish and arrogant. Prince Asseylum spoke for peace with Earth, for years–they never had true respect for him, and now–"

"–now, their Prince is a cripple. That's it isn't it?"

Slaine lowered her eyes. Lemerius took some time to express his full opinion of the Versian nobility, making up in imagination for his limited vocabulary. Then he wept and cursed himself. Slaine held his hand and told him none of it was true.

"Your Highness. Perhaps I must serve you as a warrior…not your Princess. A supportive, feminine bride, connected among the nobility, could be of far more use, if we could only ensure her silence. But please, don't set your heart on a thing like me. It's enough simply to know I have a place in your heart..."

Lemerius knew, that instant–his mother had said the same words, once. To the Emperor who used her, and imprisoned her with her child.

"NO! Let them call me a child, or princess, but you will be my wife, Slaine. Nothing less."

Occasionally, Slaine glimpsed her beloved Asseylum in his brother's face. But as he laid all self and pride at her feet, Lemerius shone with light that was only his.

"You'll simply have to stay on the battlefield, in command of our forces." Lemerius still spoke to her, "A warrior Princess, as you really are…I suppose I always knew it. I could never address Vers, and talk about carving a kingdom from the Earth, without your victories and strength. I simply had a dream that I might protect you. One day. Somehow…."

Hesitantly, Slaine stood up. Then she kissed Lemerius on the mouth.

He was soft and warm as heaped red roses. He responded, and her trigger never stirred–the moment of peace was only gone too soon.

"My Prince. Thank you."

Slaine didn't know why she felt shaken. She'd known, before offering to break their engagement, that the words would only make Lemerius cling to her. No rank beneath Empress of Vers held the security and power that she needed. For her Prince's dream, for every Harklight and Lemerius his empire birthed. To save the world from the fires of war, by any means.

Then Lemerius was sat before all of Vers, proclaiming the new kingdom he would rule on Earth. He was Crown Prince Asseylum Vers Allusia. Conqueror of Old Humanity. His father's heir.

She stood at his side, unflinching in jacket, boots and scars of war. Her Prince's fiancé. The partner in conquest that she truly was. A warrior Princess to bring victory and justice. She would not fail her people of Vers, not one.

Except the pure fount of her life and joy–the Prince her bitterest strivings could only fail and betray. She had cut down her angel. What was left, but to rule in hell?

-0-

-0-

"It was you who told the Counts about the engagement, and the dress, was it not, Sir Harklight?"

"I can hide nothing from you, Milady. I thought it the best course of action."

"It was, but you exceeded your authority. Have a care that you don't go too far, someday."

"Thank you, my Lady."

Harklight bowed his head. As an engaged woman, the Countess couldn't be so familiar with him, or employ him as a bodyservant. Significant as his knighthood was, for himself and the whole Versian Third Class, he felt gladdest that it let him to continue as Slaine's aide.

"This is your steed," Slaine stopped at the feet of the Herschel, "You may customise it any way you see fit."

"Perhaps with a seatbelt, my Lady? And an escape pod?" Slaine very briefly smiled.

"Of course. And do the same for the Tharsis, if time permits before I ride out again."

In Slaine's office, Harklight reported on her new situation. Count Barouhcruz, the late Saazbaum's vassal, had already offered his allegiance.

"He seems to believe that the Prince's fiancée and military commander will also command Activation Rights in future."

"So he took the Prince's hints. An especially pliant vow of loyalty–we will have to watch him."

"Rafia, Zebrin, Orga, Count Massingherry and Countess Hauksbey have sent messages leaving their support in no doubt. And Count Mazuurek willsupport you, or be pilloried for ingratitude. Morale has never been higher, since Novosibirisk, even with the fall of Castle Selkanis. Vers has a purpose, and a hope."

Harklight paused. It concerned him that his Lady looked so grim, at this moment of triumph. At least there were no false smiles, now.

"Count Selkanis was no loss. An arrogant individualist who believed no Terrans could ever defeat him. He would never have accepted me; the new Vers we are making has no place for such as he."

"Milady?"

"The royalist and conservative factions may be silent now, but they will oppose me. Please prepare a list of those we can safely denounce, in the Crown Prince's name, and strip of their knighthoods. Well, Sir Harklight? Too underhand for you?"

"My Lady…I simply didn't realise your resolve…"

And Harklight could barely hide how much he loved it. He burned to shake the selfish nobility that had crushed his people and his family. And his beautiful warrior, who stood to crush them in turn, looked to him! How wonderful she was…

"Good. To show the strength of unity, we must also launch a new offensive. Our adherents control two-thirds of Africa, the Russian heartland, Saudi Arabia (somewhat) and part of the subcontinent. The Counts still fighting for China will not support us. Siberia is well-defended and worthless land…Western Europe is too weak to show our strength. The offensive will be aimed at Central Asia. Inform Count Orga, Count Massingherry, and Countess Hauksbey that they are to demonstrate their loyalty."

"Certainly, my Lady. How about Count Zebrin and Countess Rafia?"

"They would be more reliable…but they're tied down in the conquest of central Africa, after my last excursion. Three Orbital Knights, to join up all our territories, seize key resources and smash a major Terran strongpoint. A new kingdom will expand from Central Asia, across the whole Earth. And it will be different from what went before, Sir Harklight."

Harklight waited, but his mistress had no more to say. He left her brooding intently over wars of the future. The battles in her mind.

As blue eyes, under glass, drifted open. Edward gasped, and started running towards Countess Slaine Saazbaum-Troyard, Princess Consort presumptive.

-0-

-0-

"…the doctor said his Highness could be awake in days! It's a miracle–the Prince of Vers is truly blessed by the heavens! I'm sorry, it's just so… "

Edward fell silent. Slaine still gazed at her Prince's pure white face.

"Harklight? Do you think you could make me a dress? Not in white; black and red. And please…find me a mask."

"Milady."

Harklight bowed, and left her at the Prince's bedside. The offensive on Earth was already arranged. If it was his Lady's will, he would make the dress.

-0-

-0-

"My brother's condition has worsened? I…I suppose it was inevitable. I'm sorry. We were raised apart, destined to oppose each other...but I know he was the best of men. He lived a life full with honour and regard. He fought for the future of Vers, as her Prince. I wish I had known him, to mourn him more deeply–though of course I still hope for his full recovery."

The brother I never knew. The shining Prince I could never be. The hidden, silent body with no place left in this world…except the four souls who will know it when he dies.

"As do I, Highness." Slaine stood up, with downcast eyes, "I hope tomorrow brings better news…"

As she turned, Lemerius caught her wrist.

"I know you loved him. You don't have to be strong for me. I know what it is to be alone…please, Slaine, do not leave me…"

He pulled her closer, buried his face in her breasts. She ran a hand across his soft hair. Eyes merciless and miserable as a tiger in chains.

-0-

-0-

The Kataphrakt was matt-black, smaller than an Areion, and armed only with two plasma-edged arm blades. It had gone through the UFE force sent to Quetta, without slowing down. The perfect description, Kei reflected. She watched it vanish in a ball of light, flash into view behind another Kat. Slice it from nave to chops.

"Is that possible?" Calm knew instantly, it was a stupid question.

"Evidently, it is." Kei looked up from her tablet, "It probably generates a stable wormhole." The video ended with shaky footage of bluejackets rounding up Pakistani civilians and gunning them down. The pilot who took the video had managed to flee with other survivors.

"And Count Massingherry has destroyed the base at Lucknow." Wolf Aresh commented. Kei pulled up the file on the Coronae Kataphrakt; an six-armed lion headed machine, bigger than any she'd faced. "No counterattack in India this year."

"This is probably connected to Slaine Troyard's actions. Multiple Counts, vying to outdo her, or gain her favour…I expect we'll be sent to Pakistan. I certainly hope so."

"Sure." Wolf stared out the window, "The Coronae is the tougher Kat."

"And it isn't targeting civilians."

The euphoria of New Orleans had vanished within days. But a glimpse of the heart beyond Kei's frown would always make Calm grin. Inko and Nina both had the same smile.

-0-

-0-

Prince Asseylum Vers Allusia emerged from the sea of night, into the numb scrap of meat that was his flesh. His head hurt. Someone was calling him.

"Edward." Brightening eyes drifted over the page's jubilant face. Then to the lady kneeling beside him, in the dark gown. Trembling lips, sea-blue eyes filled with distress. Her face, white as the angel who had guarded his life.

"Highness…"

He raised a hand, towards her masked face. She carefully held it in her own.

"Miss Slaine Troyard…it is good to hear your voice once more."

"Oh–my Prince! So wonderful to be known by you! Such happiness…!"

"Oh, don't cry, my girl. How can I wipe your tears, beneath that mask? My own folly is to blame for this, I've no doubt. And I know you cared for me perfectly, Slaine Troyard. There is no one I'd rather see at my side but you, my kindest, most tender friend…oh, don't you start blubbing too, Edward. Come now, I'm not dead."

Slaine's bosom rose and fell with sobs of joy. Restraint forgotten, she pressed her lips all over Asseylum's hand. Edward blew his nose; then Slaine looked up, smiling, and he burst into tears again at the sight.

A faint knocking, deep in Asseylum's upended mind, implied some vital affair demanding his attention. But royal station was a tapestry of indispensable duties; all would have to be dispensed with, until he was somewhat recovered.

As Asseylum smiled back at Slaine, he pushed all such thoughts away. He would rest, as a patient, not a prince, trusting in his precious friends.

-0-

-0-

"Slaine, my love? Is my brother's condition changed, at all?"

"I understand that the Prince is still unstable, Highness. His physicians still advise no visitors. It is most frustrating."

"Oh, I've noticed, dear Slaine. You seem in high spirits one moment, then black and brooding the next. You're bearing the heaviest load of us all…" Lemerius glided in his chair to Slaine's side. Ran his fingers through her hair, across her cheek. "Please, my love. Let the war fight itself for an hour. I…know I can ease your burden, help you forget the pain…"

"Thank you, Highness. But I must meet with Sir Harklight now. My apologies–"

"Slaine…can you not forget my brother? I thought I could bear it, if you didn't, but the truth is, I can't. I only want to raise you up, and bring you happiness. I lo–"

"I know, Highness. love is a joy and pain, that cannot be forgotten. I thank you for all you have given me, Highness. I will do all in return that I possibly can."

Slaine left the room. Lemerius remained. His hands didn't unclench for nearly half an hour.


	8. Dance of Death

"Edward, old chap? When will Miss Troyard have time to spend with me?"

"S-she wishes to be with you, Highness…but at present she has many duties."

"And we had such a pleasant chat last week; but I suppose she is Countess Troyard, now. She always was an extraordinary girl."

"Yes…"

Edward turned away, shamefaced. He had dreams that began with Slaine sweetly explaining why she needed him to lie to his Prince, and ended with him pinned to a bed, being devoured.

From his wheelchair, Asseylum breathed in the heavy scent of grass and ferns, flavoured delectably with a thousand flowers. Slaine had personally ordered every plant and stone from Earth. The garden of holographic rivers and skies had been prepared on the former Castle Marylcian's viewing deck, before her Prince had even fully awakened.

"I trust our Countess will take care of matters while I recover. Terra truly is a world of wonders."

"Have you remembered your time on Terra, Highness?"

Asseylum's memory had blanked out, since awakening, from before his arrival in Earth orbit. The Prince stared up at the image of circling gulls.

"Kazuika Kei. I…only recall that she too was a woman to be relied on."

Edward turned to see blue roses, spilt from their bouquet in the holographic sun.

-0-

-0-

"Keep formation! All units, fall back to the Deucalion!"

As the battleship ploughed through the dust, Mustang platoon were already retreating. The lion-faced Vers Kataphract deployed blade fields from four of its arms. The fourth pair, folded on its shoulders, were raising a golden ring above its head.

Kei's tactic against the teleporting Hecate was a circle formation. Each Areion covered the next one's flank and back; two more Kats stood back-to-back in the centre. Only one Kat had been lost so far, but almost every pilot's nerves were shredded completely.

Pottok and Lokai platoons were edging back from the lion-faced Coronae, when a brilliant disc leapt up from the ring. It flew away like a chakram, and two Areions exploded. The survivors instantly moved to skirmish formation. The Hectate flashed about, downing them one by one.

"Keep formation! Everyone fall back, fast as possible."

Before Kei could ask, Magbaredge had emptied the Deucalion's missile tubes. They burst on the blade fields, with torrents of black smoke-gasping, the surviving Areions scrambled aboard.

One chakram flew out of the darkness, slashing at the Deucalion's body. Their ascent slowed, but did not stop. Kei dropped from her Kat, and stumbled to the bridge. Nina was struggling to right the battleship. Yutaro was shouting about something on the wing-

Kei shoved him away from the external camera display. In the darkness outside, a black Kataphrakt was moving. From the wing to the bow; then the battleship shook like a cocktail mixer.

"The anti-boarding guns!" Lt Mizusaki cried.

Kei seized remote control of a dozen heavy machine guns. Pain stabbed through her eye, but she aimed them all, and fired until they clicked. Then the only sound was air rushing through the scar in their side.

"Oxygen masks!" Magbaredge ordered, "Have the damage repaired, stat! Klein, can you steer this crate without either wing?"

"I'll do my best-!"

"Yes. We can."

Kei laid her hands on Nina's shoulders, and whispered course corrections. Her eye could see every gust of wind in the night outside. It didn't stop hurting, but she stayed on her feet. This was what no one else could do.

"...there." She whispered to Nina, "We can finally fight together."

"Thank you, Kei..." Nina murmured. Yutaro's glasses began to fog.

-0-

-0-

"Massingherry! Why didn't you hit them again?"

"Fear not, Countess. I'd say we've removed that stain on Versian honour."

A muscular young man, with tawny hair as leonine as his steed, Massingherry smiled and adjusted his cravat. Countess Hauksbey sneered quietly, and steered her Kataphrakt through the wrecked Areions. In the distance towards Tehran, the impact cloud of Castle Orga began to vanish in the gloom.

"Well. If there any rats are left behind-" A Terran pilot crawled out, and started to run, "-this is my battlefield, and their fate is in my hands. Isn't that so, Count Orga?"

"Undoubtedly, Countess." Orga's voice came over the radio, above crashes, gunfire, and pounding Ortygias' feet. Hauksbey smiled, wormholed the Hecate into the pilot's path, and neatly slashed off his head like a dandelion. She released a very satisfied breath.

"Your skill is quite formidable, Countess." Massingherry stated, "But please remember this; we are raising up a kingdom of justice, in the name of his Highness Prince Asseylum vers Allusia, and the Lady Saazbaum-Troyard! We might be compelled to purify by fire; but our duty must be to liberate Old Humanity from decadence..."

"Stupidity, like the universe, is without limits." Hauksbey whispered to Orga over a private line.

"The youngster will learn in time, Countess-" A vast crash came over the line, and faint screams "-even if he never does read Terran history. We will only build Countess Troyard's Kingdom, my dear, on these mongrels' bones."

"You will build it, old man. I hold the power of a knight to defeat and destroy. No reason else." Hauskbey's face had already resumed the dull expression she wore outside of battle.

Massingherry had finished his speech; Orga switched back to public channel.

"Comrades. I intend to conquer this land within the week; I expect you'll secure three countries at least in that time. Have a care, for the Terrans are cunning and merciless. But prove the might of Vers, and smash their resistance down!"

In the ruins of Tehran, the Ortygia suited the action to the words. Hauksbey's mouth twitched, like a tiger scenting blood.

-0-

-0-

"Do you think…we'll be able to win this time, Wolf-san?

"Yeah. Kazuika will defeat them."

Inko fidgeted bashfully. She had found Wolf slouched against his Kat; with a softball, he would've been bouncing it off the wall. Without a ball, he only stared into space.

"She's amazing isn't she? Say, when all this is over, will you come back to Shinawara with us?"

"I don't know. No good memories. Don't know what I'll do."

"Is your father out there somewhere?"

"He could be Versian or Terran for all I know. I think the my mother had to sleep with the enemy on some of her missions for Vers–but she was a good a mother as a fanatic secret agent could be. She deserved better...just wish I'd told her to run."

Wolf lapsed back into gloomy silence. Inko felt a stab of sympathy for the muscular Versian boy.

"Why don't you settle down somewhere, after this? You could have practically any girl on thus base, you know. "

-0-

-0-

"Your Highness."

"My dear Countess Troyard. Excuse me…" Over Slaine's protests, Asseylum unsteadily rose from his chair, "It is a delight to see you. Though must your face still remain unseen?"

"My Prince. Please. I came hoping to comfort, not trouble you…"

Masked face turned away, and hand clasped to her chest, Slaine was the image of a lady in distress (though the true agony she felt, looking upon the beloved she had betrayed, was beyond expression). Asseylum smiled gallantly, and promised to ask no more about the mask.

"…I suppose one doesn't question dreams, and this feels something like a dream. Resting in this delightful garden, away from the troubled world…I can guess how troubled, from your long hours of work and my own condition. Forgive me, Slaine, for resigning all my burdens to you so shamefully. It seems you need rest and comfort more than I."

"Highness, you need rest to recover your strength and memory! And I…I have grown stronger, in the years since we were children. I will protect you from all disturbance, with my life."

Asseylum ran his eyes over Slaine's bare, lithe arms. She felt them wander over her bodice as well, and her white neck. She smiled with the joy of love that had brought her through so much misery.

"I don't doubt it. You've become a woman–but your smile is still pure as always. I remember your smile, when you taught me about seabirds…on Earth, I believe I actually saw them…"

Asseylum looked up, again, at the circling gulls. His perfect brow furrowed. Before he could speak, Slaine cancelled the hologram. Night and the stars rushed in over the garden.

"Slaine?" Asseylum put his hand on her bare shoulder.

"Forgive me. I saw something troubling you, I had to act…"

He almost remembered. Oh, my Prince, why must the day that destroyed us ever be recalled? Why must you be Prince of Vers at all, when it brings such pain? And why are you laying a kindly hand on this monster, who let you die and killed your dreams–?

"…please, my Prince. Do not dwell on troubling memories, not now. Let us speak of the happier times we have known, the innocence and hope of our childhood, please…"

In the starlight from the windows, Asseylum held her shoulders. His smile was full of comfort and peace.

"Slaine, Slaine, why so serious? Do not worry. All will be well. Certainly, we've both seen harder times, since then–but the Earth and the stars are still beautiful. And our dream of peace can only be nearer than ever. That grand ball in a forest I spoke of…do you remember, Slaine?"

"Yes, my Prince." Slaine fixed her eyes on the distant Earth. He was close to her body, his gaze was on the same place. Her captive angel, and his captive demon. It was wrong, it was betrayal again, but she couldn't resist. "My Prince…do you remember when you asked me how to waltz?"

"Of course."

Slaine pulled up a holoscreen. "Sir Harklight? Music, please."

Slowly, at first, they revolved amongst the darkened flowers and trees. From natural grace, he danced better than she did. His hand clung to hers, and her head whirled like a heavenly carousel.

Night time sharpens, heightens each sensation

Darkness stirs and wakes imagination

Silently the senses abandon their defences…

Slowly, gently night unfurls its splendour

Grasp it, sense it, tremulous and tender

Turn your face away from the garish light of day

Turn your thoughts away from cold unfeeling light

And listen to the music of the night…

Wherever Harklight had found it, it was perfect. Slaine was flying over the ground, gasping with joy, when Asseylum's legs finally buckled under him.

"My Prince! Forgive me, I was too reckless–"

"Oh, Slaine. You know I would forgive you anything, don't you?" On the floor in her arms, he was breathing hard as well, "You meant well. As you always do. A kind heart is beauty that can never be defaced."

"My Prince…"

Then ice stabbed Slaine through, as Asseylum's fingers touched her face.

"Slaine, you were…wounded, were you not? Was in the same accident, or assault, that struck me down? Were you defending me? Oh, Slaine…brave, beautiful Slaine. In a thousand years, I could never repay your love. But I can tell you that you need not be afraid. I will not leave you alone again…"

His arms were strong around her. Her body trembled like a drowning kitten. As her Prince touched the white mask over her burning scars, Slaine broke from his embrace. Her dress tripped her, and she tumbled through a rosebush. Tore herself away, and kept running.

-0-

-0-

Harklight found his Lady on the floor when he entered her stateroom, clenched up like a fist. Dress stained with soil, arms bleeding–he quickly knelt beside her with iodine, and began to disinfect the scratches.

"Milady. I believe you have given your life for his Highness, many times over. I am sure he will understand you, one day–"

"No. No. I don't care! I can't go on, Harklight!"

Harklight froze. Through her sobs, Slaine's voice was faint.

"I should never have gone to him. Knew we could never, ever…it was his kindness that killed me–when I watched, as Saazbaum shot him down! I was the traitor. Liar. Warlord. I know it's the way to peace, the only way! But he's so beautiful, and I'm so UGLY!"

Slaine raised her face–her mask was broken in the sink. Every scar was blood red.

"My Lady!" Abandoning decorum, Harklight drew her up by both shoulders, "Can love be ugly? Terrible, yes–but beautiful forever! Remember how you endured so much, because you care more even for your lowest vassal's life than your own! That is why you are the hope of Vers. That is why you are loved, more than you know, by your people."

"No! I…killed…"

"My Lady…I know about Saazbaum. Sergeant Treskow left a note in her room, which I destroyed. What happened to her, I can surmise–so you see, I know everything you have done, my Lady. I've tried to imagine all you've suffered. And I have sworn to follow you, to whatever end, with all my heart."

"I'm sorry." Tears gone, Slaine rose to her feet, "The future of Vers rests on me, and your heart's loyalty–I'm ashamed of myself. I cannot falter, like this. Not when you choose me over your Lord and your friend…I'm sorry."

"No apologies, if you recall, my Lady?" Harklight smiled, "We cannot change the past. But I believe you can certainly change the future."

"Yes," Slaine smiled back, "Thank you. My knight."

-0-

-0-

Afterwards, Slaine took Sir Harklight to a disused block of the Moonbase that had been converted into a stockade. Astrid Treskow was sitting there, in a dirty uniform, guarded by the kind of security officers who obeyed anyone in power without question.

"Nothing she did deserved death; when my position becomes unassailable, I hope to release her. I couldn't bear to tell you about Saazbaum–but I suppose now you've seen all my shame."

"Yes, Milady. What are your orders now?"

Slaine couldn't help smiling. Sir Harklight had the faintly tearful smile of a man whose faith had found great reward.

-0-

-0-

One week into the Central Asia offensive, another column of refugees began the long trek from Uzbekistan to UFE-held Siberia. Two Areions had been spared to escort them. But the Hecate appeared behind the third Kat, which had trailed them from Samarkand with a sniper rifle.

"Did you take me for a fool?" Hauksbey sneered. Then the sniper shell from the fourth Kat hit her back. The Hectate was gone in a flash.

"From the Slepnir's video log, and the remains of the shell," Inaho told Magbaredge later, "Piercing the Hecate's armour triggers an instant teleport. Shooting it will be impossible."

"So? We finally need a nuke?"

"Not at all. Its weakness is shown by its feet." Magbaredge waited in vain for Kei to elaborate, then sighed.

"Is that why you want to repeat yesterday's operation?"

"Not exactly, Sir. The Hecate's pilot is thorough, cautious, and prone to attacking civilians. The Coronae's pilot is reckless, even for a Versian. If we repeat an ambush on the Hectate, then attack near the Coronae to bait it into the hills, there is a good chance Hecate will be too wary to lend support. A good chance of our fighting the Coronae on its own."

-0-

-0-

The blade field struck under the reactive chest armour. Another Areion exploded. The rest threw their armour off as they blazed away, but the Coronae still moved faster, over the rocky Afghan hills.

"An ambush? What a miserable ploy..." Massingherry sighed. As Terran Kats poured on shells from every side, out of the shelter of rock pillars and caves, his four blades danced across the Coronae's body. It seemed entirely covered in a basket of light. Careless Argyres had been hit by sharpshooters throughout the war. But the Coronae's artificial intelligence (as Kei had guessed) wove an inhumanly intricate defence–

The Vers Kat rocked, as a shell thumped into its leg. Massingherry bit his lip in shock. A Terran Kat ducked back behind a hillside. Bullets still tumbled away from his blades.

"Could it be…the Orange Kat, which gave the Lady Troyard such trouble? No other Terran could make a shot like that. And I swear no Terran ever will again!"

The Count raised the chakram projector above his Kat. Sniper Areions tried to shoot it out, but the blade-web shifted to shield the arms and ring. Bright disks leapt above the defence, to blow the sniper unit apart.

Complete defence and offence together. No real weak spot. I must make one.

A shell flew down from the sky, like express-way lightning, onto the Coronae's crown.

-0-

-0-

Yuki had insisted on being the decoy. Kei would fire one shot from her Kat by remote control. The analytical eye could crack the pattern of four blades, but not guarantee a one shot kill. Unless Kei's Sleipnir was actually hanging out of a small transport plane, 40,000 feet up. Ready for the Count to deploy his ranged weapon and leave the very top of his head uncovered.

The plan hung on a single shot. And Kei's eye would have nailed it perfectly, if the Hectate hadn't clanged down on top of the plane.

With a milisecond's million corrections, she fired–the shot was off, but an arm was smashed from the Coronae's body. Then the Hectate had slashed the transport plane in two, and wind roared around her Sleipnir, dropping from the sky.

She brought her gun up, but above her, the Hectate was gone. Below her–

Versian Kats moved like oiled snakes, but Kei knew she had to be faster this pilot. As she twisted in the air, she hit the grapple gun, hit eject.

Suddenly lightened, the Sleipnir slammed into the Hecate. Once her escape pod parachutes had unfurled, Kei watched them falling, hopelessly tangled by the grappling wire.

Such a small Kataphrakt. No bulky ranged weapon. At least you pretended to be a walker–but those wide feet never quite touched the ground. The Hecate used hover-propulsion, like the Electris, when it didn't teleport. Because the wormholes permitted only a mass not much greater than itself. In unbreakable contact with a greater mass–

The Sleipnir and Hectate crashed to the ground together. The Aldnoah drive went up, like 20 tons of TNT.

–you were helpless. Now, how in the world did I actually do that? Kei stared up, unsmiling, at the blue Afghan sky.

-0-

-0-

Beneath her, Massingherry took out his indignation out on three more Areions. Just as he was considering a temporary withdrawal, the sky filled with planes and parachutes–the Areions fired as they fell, scarring the Coronae's armour. No Sky Carrier could get through–his chakram projector might have cleared the sky, but it was gone.

Three blades were still deadly and almost impenetrable. The Count set his teeth, and stalked towards his enemies.

There were wrecked Areions on every side of Inko, when the lion face turned to her, and a blade field slashed down. Her armour blasted it off–she'd never managed to ditch it– but she couldn't fly back fast enough. She could smell the ozone as it lunged, feel burning heat–

Then an Areion seized the Coronae's arm in a grip of death, forcing it away from Inko. She heard an enraged roar from within the machine, and the radio shouted at her to fire.

"Wolf!"

From the other side, Yuki aimed her cannon. She cried out for Wolf to get clear.

"No. Shoot! This is all I can do!"

"Blasted Terran!" Massingherry stabbed down another sword through the Areion, like a scorpion's sting, as Yuki fired into his Kataphrakt's body. "Blast your eyes, all of you!"

With two swords, he took down another two Areions, but his giant kataphrakt could no longer be shielded completely. The Terrans were a force of veterans, and a great many veterans died that day; but at the end two Versian Counts were dead.

The next day, Count Orga's Ortygias charged across the border with Iran. Had she realised that there was no original Kataphrakt to destroy, Kei always believed, dozens of UFE pilots might not have been smashed into the dirt. It was the commanding general, she maintained, who had truly won the battle by committing dozens of further Areions to the next day's fight. So she could aim and fire every weapon at once, wipe out every one of the miraculous cloning Kats in an instant. And be carried from her new Sleipnir in a pain-induced coma, as pilots from East and West embraced and cheered.

The Deucalion bought an empty coffin for Wolf, and, as his will requested, another one for his mother. The whole company, and every other soldiers who had fought that day, stood by the graveside and bowed their heads.

"They all accept him, now." Magbaredge muttered, "The poor kid."

A few stepped up to talk of his dedication, and loyalty. Inko and Yuki were inconsolable. Calm only said that he couldn't say it had been right and good for Wolf to die for his country. He was glad he could say, Wolf had laid down his life for his friends.


	9. The Duelists

"We lost three Kataphrakts, two Landing Castles, central Asia and India. Orga's barons are holding his Russian territory with Count Gregaire, and the UFE paid a high price; but their rearmament will be exponentially faster. A few Counts are even whispering of peace. Others propose a massive orbital bombardment, but no one will engage the Terrans directly, after this…"

"…disaster, Sir Harklight." At her desk, Slaine did not move; her face was like ice. "But there will be no peace. And no bombardment. It will take time to rally support for another offensive, but next time I will lead in person, without any half-measures. Only when our kingdom covers the Earth will there be peace, however long that takes."

"My Lady." Like a certain slim finger, chill ran down Harklight's spine, "You are resolved."

"The arrow has been loosed. I have nothing else to turn back to. That will be all, Sir Harklight."

"Very good, Milady. Incidentally, Prince Asseylum very much wished to see you this afternoon."

He bowed to hide his smile. His Lady would never turn back. But she looked back, to the Prince she loved, and he couldn't help but love her for it. A billion Terrans would live another day, on her mercy.

On the other side of the Moonbase, Prince Lemerius finally went to the medical wing, and found out what he had to know.

-0-

-0-

In a small steel room, with one bowl of flowers at his bedside, Edward combed his Prince's hair. Asseylum's smile was quiet and simple.

"Edward? Who am I?"

"The Prince of Vers, Highness. The Crown Prince…"

"Then why am I now sitting here, alone and doing nothing? Even memories of Mars seem like a dream. Did I really work to guide and lead my people? Did they love me, for any happiness I gave them? I am thinking, more and more…that the only happiness I could ever make is hers."

Afterwards, Edward obeyed Prince Lemerius' summons. The rose-haired Prince was sat alone. However often he gazed at the stars, Edward had never seen him look so lonely before.

"Edward? Come here. Now, do you have a weapon?"

"Highness? Yes, but–"

Then Lemerius snatched it, and turned it on him.

"Now. Please take me to see Prince Asseylum." As he led the Prince across to Castle Troyard, Edward could have escaped or given alarm many times, but didn't.

As his mirror image aimed the gun at him, Prince Asseylum remained seated. His dreamy smile barely wavered.

"Ah. Perhaps you can tell me who I am?"

"You are…my brother." Shock broke on Asseylum's face.

"Whatever I did, whatever was done to you…I am sorry."

Lemerius had nothing else to say. The gun shook in circles over his brother's face. The brother he'd never known and never escaped, the man who had his fiancé, and he would have emptied the gun if it had won him Slaine's heart–but it wouldn't. He would have nothing, if he fired. Like the crownless Prince before his eyes; his…

"…brother." Lemerius lowered the gun, "This is an unexpected meeting. I was told you were at death's door, for one thing."

"Who…?"

Then Edward, with a silent prayer for Slaine's forgiveness, finally revealed the pendant he had received from Count Mazuurek. When Asseylum looked up from it, to his brother, it was as a sadder, stronger man.

-0-

-0-

"Slaine. You never told me that my brother was awake. Why?"

"I feared it would disturb you at a critical stage of our plans."

"Disturb me? You said that he was dying!"

No regret showed in Slaine's face, as she stood in Lemerius' suite before the Prince. But she briefly looked away, before speaking again.

"I still need you to impersonate Prince Asseylum. Nothing has changed."

"But, you are fighting this war against the Prince's will."

"Nothing has changed. And the peace of my Prnce's dreams can come in no other way. Do you know why wars are fought, your Highness?"

"To achieve political ends by another means."

The Prince's voice failed as Slaine stepped forward. Magnificent in her uniform, her voice was entirely cold and exact.

"A nineteenth-century fairytale, Highness. The Punic wars, the Pacific war, Germany and France, the Native American geocide–Earth and Mars. All drowning those words in blood, because wars are fought while there is an enemy to fight. From the fall of Castle Saazbaum–from the day humans settled on Mars–this war could only end when one side was assimilated into the other, or annihilated. I will end this war, Highness; I will give you, and Prince Asseylum, a world without war or pain. I am the one who will do what is required." She placed a finger under one stony eye, as she spoke, and ran it along one scar.

"No…"

The Prince shook his head, like a sparrow stunned on a windowpane. He could say nothing else until he stood up, dismissed the hologram, and was Prince Asseylum Vers Allusia again.

-0-

-0-

"My Prince…" Slaine stepped back. One spasm of agony and shame gripped her face–then it was ice again, as she turned to Lemerius and Edward in the doorway. "My Prince. You must be surprised at the change in me…"

"No. No, no…"

In one rush, Asseylum gripped her shoulders, spun her, looked her in the face. Harsh years had made her arms strong, but she did not move.

"This isn't you, Slaine. You are gentle, and kind. You taught me of flowers and birds with love! All the Counts wanted this useless, unjust war, but you never did! Can't we wake up from this nightmare? Whatever happened to you, whatever you've done, you are Slaine Troyard, an innocent girl!"

The Prince gripped Slaine's collar, and torn her jacket open down the front. Too shocked to even cry out, she fell back onto a sofa–still gripping her collar, he thumped down over her. Her breasts stood out under her shirt. There were tears in Asseylum's eyes.

"See? The innocent girl who believed in peace. The girl I care for, more than–"

"Get away from me, your Highness."

The Prince's hand froze on Slaine's cheek, as her sidearm touched his kneecap. He stood up, adjusting his collar. Guards were already covering the stunned Edward and Lemerius.

"I'm sorry, Slaine. My feelings overcame–"

"Don't move! I'll shoot your leg off, if I must protect you from yourself!"

"–I understand. Sorry. What I did was unworthy of a Prince, let alone your friend. But as both, I demand that you end this unjust war."

Holding her torn jacket over her chest, Slaine kept her gun aimed at the Prince. Colour burned in her ravaged cheeks.

"Even if I was still a Versian citizen I could not do that, your Highness, and would not try. I am not the little girl you knew, who couldn't even save herself. I will confine you under house arrest, until everything is over. I will protect you, this time, Highness."

"I refuse your protection." Asseylum's handsome face was colder than Slaine's now. "Countess Slaine Saazbaum-Troyard. I challenge you to a duel."

"….yes. My Prince."

Slaine smiled. Acknowledgement, after four years. She had lost him forever, but his words were a final cooling breeze above her hell.

She walked out, leaving the princes to their guards. Unable to meet Lemerius' eye.

-0-

-0-

Absently, Slaine sent her jacket to be repaired, and retired to her quarters with her choices. Forgetting that Sir Harklight was still the best tailor on the Moonbase, and deal with her wardrobe personally.

The aide stared at the thing in his hands. Her jacket, torn by a hand-ripping his chest hollow, as his heart screamed out.

In her past, he knew there was assault. Abuse to break every hope and joy, but she had still fought to the death, for her Prince. And what had he done to her?

There was a gun in his locker. No guard would stop him; but he couldn't go. For her sake...he could only bury his face in the torn jacket. Choke on the scent of her body; weep and weep for her brokenness and his guilt.

"...oh, my Lady...oh, Slaine. How could he hurt you?"

She was his Lady-the girl he loved, and he could not help her. A scarred seventeen-year old...he could not hold her. She trusted him...but he could only cling her jacket, and wish it was her. He would give his life for what happiness she might ever have, and perhaps atone some day for his hideous desire-that she might smile, one day, for him.

-0-

-0-

"Brother of mine….should I have killed you when I had the chance?" Asseylum looked so miserable, Lemerius eventually looked away. He had lost everything he'd never had, apart from his brother, after all.

The Princes, with Edward, had been locked in the suite for days. Their meals were unchanged, and an officer had confirmed Asseylum's requirements for the duel. After a single brief order, the Prince hadn't spoken.

"It was shameful." Asseylum finally looked up, "I've made so many mistakes…this will be my last chance to make her see. For the sake of the world, I must succeed." Lemerius' eyes narrowed.

"And Slaine? Are you going to kill the girl who loves you, for the world's sake?"

"Highness…" Edward broke in, "Countess Troyard fought to protect you, at risk of her ambitions, and even her life. She hoped for nothing but that you would wake, and smile again…she hoped for so long…" The page glanced at Lemerius; his voice broke down. "She shouldn't have deceived everyone, but it wasn't for herself! She's sadder about this than anyone!"

Asseylum rested a hand on Edward's shoulder. His smile was very sad.

"Neither Princes, nor nobles, are granted power to serve their own desires. Slaine does not understand it–perhaps she never did. I must save my friends on Earth, and her people who are dying. And I will save Slaine Troyard."

"Of course." Lemerius glowered at his brother again, "That's what Princes do isn't it?"

-0-

-0-

"Only the royal family can use personal Aldnoah devices, such as holographic disguises and the mind-link of the Olympus kataphrakt. While the body is moved as a regular kataphrakt, the mind-link is necessary to convert intention into energy. Energy bolts, from the will to destroy. Impenetrable shields, from the desire to survive–but only against attacks that the Prince can anticipate. With the Tharsis's clairvoyance, you should be able to evade his attacks, and await an opportunity."

"No." Slaine leaned back at her desk, "I kept Lemerius from using the Olympus' cursed power, as much as I could. The longer Prince Asseylum fights with it, the worse the effects will be. I will conclude the duel as swiftly as possible."

"Milady…are you prepared for this duel? I have every hope you can disable the Prince and compel his surrender. I hope that one day both of the Princes will understand what you are doing, and your feelings for them…but if necessary…?"

"It doesn't matter. Whatever happens, happens."

Harklight had never been more unnerved. Slaine showed no more emotion than a falling statue, whistling towards the ground.

-0-

-0-

The morning of the duel failed to dawn–only the white Tharsis rose into the darkness of space. Stone-faced, Harklight and Lemerius watched from the Moonbase command deck. It wasn't an official duel, with referees, or seizure of assets–that would have required parity of rank. It was simply an informal battle between Prince Asseylum Vers Allusia and Countess Slaine Saazbaum-Troyard. Divided by their ideals; bound only by their honour.

"Watch me, my Prince…" Slaine breathed deeply, moistened her lips, "See how strong my convictions are."

She was ready for the Olympus to drift from the hanger–but it wasn't the purple-and-gold behemoth that emerged. Asseylum had chosen a Kataphrakt that sent her cold as the void.

The Tharsis cockpit barely had room for two bodies. On her desperate flight from Novosibirisk to the Moonbase, Slaine had hauled her Prince into the Tharsis with her. She had carried Saazbaum to the Moonbase inside the only intact Kataphrakt remaining.

Prince Asseylum's Sleipnir.

"Your Highness. This is no fair fight!"

"What of it?" The orange Kat drew its blade, and assumed a fighting stance. "You've defeated enough Terrans in these machines, have you not?"

"I…fought them for the sake of Vers, my Prince. For you, your peace…"

"Then you can kill me with them, Miss Troyard. Then nothing will stand in your way."

"No…"

The orange kat stood among spiralling asteroids, in Slaine's crosshairs. She swooped around, circled, then dived, aiming for the weapon. At the last second, the Prince moved. Then they were spinning away, locked in an embrace with a knife at her back.

"You danced better than this, Slaine! You're better than this. Remember who you are, and free your heart!"

"I see your heart, my Prince," Her elbow knocked his knife away; a kick sent them spiralling apart. "There is no future where you kill me."

"Of course not. I am your friend, Slaine, come what may."

"…what about Kaizuka Kei? What about that Orange Terran whore?" With a snarl, Slaine dived on the Sleipnir again, chopping the knife arm away. Her second pass reduced the thrusters to scrap metal, "Now, submit!"

"I told you, when we were children, Slaine–I would give my life happily, for cause of peace. After my time on Earth, and all my failures…I am truly ready. If you believe your war and your lies will bring peace Slaine, then kill me now, because I will oppose you as long as I live."

"I don't care. Hate me, torture me, kill me…only submit! Peace means nothing to me, without you!"

"Then end this. Let's talk this over, Slaine, and think together what we can do–"

No.

With a sudden scream, Slaine brought her shield down on the Sleipnir. It spun away, like a broken bird–she pinned it to a meteorite, and struck it again.

No. Never surrender. Feel how strong I've grown, my Prince! I'm sorry for this, I'm so sorry…but when this monster goes down to hell alone for you, then know will know how much I loved you. I will become a demon, for the sake of a world at peace. But I will never be that helpless little girl again!

"His...Highness's vital readings indicate unconsciousness." Harklight showed no feeling whatsoever. Lemerius buried his head in his hands. "The duel is over."

From that day until Slaine's last hour on the Moonbase, she never spoke a word, or met with a person, beyond the most necessary. Her voice and face had all their strength, but life was gone from them. Harklight knew there was nothing he could do for her. He knew that every soul in hell suffers alone.

-0-

-0-

"That's it, then," Calm Craftman indicated the most heavily-armed Sleipnir ever fielded, "Even in space, more mass needs more thrust to change direction–your agility will be shot. But I guess you know that already–"

"–and have a plan. Thank you, Calm." As engineers rushed between the Kataphrakts packed in the hanger like toys in a pencilcase, Kei studied her machine's face. Calm shifted from foot to foot.

"Amazing how fast they built this place."

"Since the Olympus kataphrakt left Mars, our known asteroid bases were clearly doomed. Much of the materiel in this new base was secretly moved from Parnossos before its destruction. It could still never have supported an attack on the Moonbase without the Deucalion."

"And they're counting on you to beat the Olympus?"

"If necessary, that should be possible." Kei knew the UFE meant to eliminate the almighty Olympus by assassinating the Prince before he got to it. The whole assault force, months in preparation, and herself, were expendable towards that goal. She also knew she would do Calm no favours by sharing her own plans.

"Are you waiting for me to tell you not to go?" Kei raised an eyebrow, "Well…tough luck. Even I can get it that this isn't just another battle. And I've always known you were the pilot who could turn this war around. Just, please, come back alive, Kei. I..."

"It's a death flag, if you leave it any longer." Calm looked into Kei's clear eyes–and was Calm.

"I love you, Kei. I think I…no, I definitely love you. I know you like–" Kei raised her hand to Calm's lips, and he shut up.

"I understand you, Calm. But not myself-I think that is why I must find Prince Asseylum again, for myself. For your feelings...I wish very much to respond to you, Calm. But not under present conditions. You are a good man Calm, and brave. You should never have to lose one you're bonded with."

"Too late for that."

"Then I really had better come back from this battle alive. Thank you again, Calm."

As Kei drifted up to her cockpit, Calm drifted away on a pink cloud. Chill shot through him, when he realised he couldn't tell Wolf–but Inko and Nina were waiting outside the hangar to cheer themselves hoarse.

-0-

-0-

"Miss Orange."

"Batgirl. It's been too long." Both shots missed. Kei ducked behind a shipping crate, gripping the wound on her arm. "Where is the real Prince?"

"You are his enemy. I will protect him!"

"Ah. Then we have the same objective–" Another bullet spanged off the container. Kei's head had never hurt so much. "We should have been allies. We could have been friends."

"It's too late for that!" kicking away from a container, Slaine soared around Kei's barricade, gun ready. But Kei had already fled–and then she glanced round into a silver gun barrel.

Count Klancain had arrived from Vers the day before, with his sister, Viscountess Solera. Slaine had exchanged compliments over tea with them for a couple of hours, assuring them that the Prince was temporarily indisposed. Her scars had burnt and her heart writhed, but she had refused to be afraid.

Now Klancain's face–was radiant with honest purity. A born knight errant, an avenging angel. Perhaps she should have soaked that face in sugared, scalding tea…

"Countess Troyard. Please lower your weapon."

"I told you to remain in your quarters, Klancain. Pitched battles can be rather unsafe."

"You don't say. Particularly with Terrans running all over your fortress. That was what convinced my sister and I that his Highness would be very much safer elsewhere."

"Where is your sister, Klancain?" The Count made no reply, "With the Prince? Well played."

"You've played a cunning game yourself, Countess. We've already uncovered most of your schemes–"

"Oh, Count Klancain," Slaine raised her hands with a charming smile, "Do you know how I got these scars?"

"What?"

She told him. Klancain made no reply, until UFE commandoes rushed into the hanger. The first man levelled his SMG at Slaine. It spat bullets into the ceiling, as Klancain shot him dead. Slaine flew backward into cover, as she shot Klancain.

When the young Count briefly regained consciousness, the remains of the commando squad were floating all over the hanger. Slaine had reached the docked Tharsis, his father's kataphrakt, and explosive shells had turned the men to rags. Now, she was walking back across the hanger, to grind the heel of a high-topped boot into his forehead.


	10. Requiem

Over miles of drifting rocks and night, the Terran kataphakt assault on the Moonbase clashed with the Herschel and Octantis. Yuki, Inko, Marito and the Stygis fighters each spun through a pathway lined with cannon fire. They sweated, poured tracers into the night, and watched friend and foe go down in flames.

While Slaine ran through the Moonbase corridors, towards the Princes' secured apartment. Where the door had been blown open, with the bodies of UFE commandoes and guards scattered around. Prince Lemerius, forced to hide in a bathroom throughout the fighting, bitterly drove his fist at the wall.

While Prince Asseylum, with a smile and a tear, placed the broach of his red cloak in Kei's unresponsive hand.

"Help will arrive for us shortly. Transporting Kaizuka Kei would fatally retard your progress. She appears to regard you as a part of herself. Your survival is her greatest priority."

"Thank you…Miss Analytical Engine. Tell Kei, when she wakes, that she is the best woman I have ever known. I only wish we might have…had one more conversation…" His head bowed towards her lips like a ministering angel's, until a cough sounded nearby.

"Your Highness, would it really be decent to steal a kiss in her sleep? You heard what that thing said."

Viscountess Solera, Klancain's sister, was a classical beauty even her grey uniform, with thick golden hair and full lips. She had shot several UFE commandoes from behind in their assault on the secured room, with no more emotion than she presently displayed.

"Of course, Viscountess…" The Prince squeezed Kei's hand once. Edward stared back at her unconscious body, as they departed. Apart from two surviving commandoes the Prince took down without pause, and a heavy firefight in the main hanger, nothing else slowed their progress to the Cruhteo's spaceship.

When Kei recovered, and played back the recording, she knew that her Prince was alive, and she had done all she could to help him. Her heart felt both heavy and empty, if that were possible…but her friends' faces, and all the lives she'd fought for, shone in her own memory. Perhaps sometime the quest itself was more important than its object.

While Slaine Troyard watched the saviour she had fought for abandon her, as the Hadrianicus sailed off into space.

-0-

-0-

"The Terran Kataphrakts have withdrawn, my Lady." Hurriedly as Sir Harklight entered the command deck, his salute was flawless, "I realised at once, they had been a diversion–"

"–and flew back to my side?" Slaine might have smiled at the irony, "If only you had stopped the Hadrianicus. The infiltrators have been eliminated. Prince Lemerius is safe. But my Prince…"

She buried a fist in her chest; as if what shook her was about to burst through. Harklight stared at the gurney behind Slaine, where medics were attending Count Klancain.

They waited, but the Hadrianicus went undetected by radar, or search craft. Slaine passed nearly two hours in prayerless silence. Tied to the stake, as faggots rose around her waist.

"Milady!" Lt Renata finally called from a communication hub, "Forward units have visual on a fresh Terran attack!"

"In even greater numbers. We cannot permit their battleship to come within range. Your orders, Milady?"

Slaine made no reply; purpose and hope seemed exhausted. At Harklight's nod, Renata ordered Barouhcruz and the Styglis to scramble. Slaine still said nothing; Harklight remained at her side.

"Slaine. Let me destroy them with the Olympus." Prince Lemerius stared out at the darkness where rocket-glares massed like dying stars, "I'll show them that a Prince of Vers can defend his fortress, and his home." Slaine finally raised her head.

"Do you really think this place a home worth fighting for?"

"After everything you've done, Slaine….my only home is here. I will not leave you."

His eyes were fixed on Slaine like rings on a finger. She gazed back for some time, until Klancain moaned, and tried to rise from his gurney.

Slaine quickly ushered Lemerius out the command post's door, with the medical staff, then strode to Klancain's side. She rested her pistol on his bandaged stomach.

"Where is your sister taking his Highness? What are her intentions?"

"Ugh…to do the will of her Prince…" Slaine's eyes flared; the gun moved to Klancain's knee, "You surprise me. Thought you…a woman of honour."

"More than your dear father?" With a scowl, Slaine withdrew the gun, "I had hoped we might be allies. Unite the 37 Clans against their common foe."

"Terra? Your own home?"

"I have no home there. No people. I only ever needed him. I must protect my Prince. I will not fail him now! Tell me where your sister is! Weren't you abandoned too?"

"Oh, we're not children," Klancain's grin was strained, but pure ivory, "I trust my sister. To protect his Highness, expose your treason to all of Vers…no. Prince Asseylum will bring your scheming down himself."

"My Lady! No!"

In one motion, Slaine had thrust down her gun into Klancain's mouth.

"I am no child, Count Cruhteo! Your father saw to that! You made me a dog, but now I have fangs, and you will never take my Prince from me again!"

The lash was tearing her apart. Asseylum was sprawled out in blood. She would never save him, and she was damned, by a devil in a red coat…her lips twisted in a tiger's snarl, and her finger pressed in. Scars burnt red, in Klancain's terror-filled eyes–then Slaine felt a grip on her arm. Heard Harklight's voice.

"Please, my Lady! What use would it be? What justice?"

…what use? Just pull the trigger! Like Trillram! Marylcian. Tsehaye. Saazbaum. All the rest…what was the use?

He took my Prince! My life. My soul. I had a human soul in his eyes, I wasn't a Terran beast. He was the only one…

"Slaine Troyard! Do not do this!"

It was the first time Harklight had cried out in her presence. She blinked, and drew back. Klancain gasped out through bloody lips.

"Sorry…for my father…"

But Slaine's eyes, and every other, were fixed on Harklight. Before her aide could kneel she gripped his arm.

"Milady! I forgot my place, I am truly–"

"Shh…my Knight. Never apologise to me. When I was powerless, in despair, weren't you always the help at my side? You saved me, again...but it's too late for me, my Knight. I have lost him, forever. Even if my Prince were with us, pleading me…I cannot go back to the child I was."

Slaine broke away from Harklight; she tried to adjust her cravat. When she spoke, her voice was dull and inexorable as a Castle in descent. The voice of a soul that had glimpsed the light of day, falling back towards the pit.

"Go to assist Count Barouhcruz, my Knight. But first, set up a broadcast from Prince Asseylum's fiancé to the 37 Clans. We will show the Terrans what it is to have no home to return to. His Highness is gone. This is my last chance to end this war. Do not stop me this time, Harklight."

"…understood. My Lady."

Harklight laid his hand on his heart. It was war. It would be genocide. But if Slaine Troyard could not be saved, he could only plunge into the pit at her side.

-0-

-0-

"…I, Emperor Asseylum Ver Alluisa, order an immediate ceasefire between Versian and Terran forces. And I order all my loyal forces against the enemy on the Moonbase.

"I have never desired war with Earth. I was held on the Moonbase, by warmongers and conspirators, but now I stand here, free. Your Emperor–thanks to the devotion of the new Count Cruhteo, and Viscountess Solero, my wife-to-be. I command, as your Emperor, that you expunge this stain on our Empire's honour–and I ask the UFE, that has suffered most from this miserable war, to assist! Attack the Moonbase! The enemy is on the Moonbase…long live sacred Vers."

The new Emperor collapsed back into the wheelchair as soon as the camera cut out, breathing hard. His dying grandfather's hands still trembled before his eyes. The mind and body worn to shreds by the years, finally escaping guilt in madness. Edward was staring at him, eyes wide.

But this would bring guilt and peace. It would save a billion lives. Slaine Troyard was not, and could not, be more important than that.

"A common enemy." Count Mazuurek reverently laid a hand on Asseylum's shoulder, "Let us pray it succeeds, your Majesty. And be thankful that only the Imperial family can operate the Olympus."

"You will be a great Emperor, your Majesty," The Empress-to-be saw fit to smile, "Because you are different from your father."

"Yes. Different from my father. He never betrayed the one who loved him."

Well, only once. My brother. As you love Slaine Troyard, hear her and submit.

-0-

-0-

"I said I wouldn't leave you, Slaine!" Prince Lemerius hammered at the door of Slaine's quarters, again. Her silence was worse than screaming. "I have the Activation Factor! You're the Tiger of Vers! We can fight anything, together! Nothing could make you surrender…!"

The door slid open. Slaine wore an unworldly smile, and the silver pendant of peace. And the white gown prepared for her engagement to Prince Asseylum Vers Allusia. Breath vanished from Lemerius' mouth.

"Highness. I truly never was the saviour you saw in me. Just a woman who fought, lied and lost sight of true hope long ago. The hope that His Majesty has found."

"My brother? He lied, Slaine. He threw you to the wolves–and you still love him?"

Asseylum's face burnt in Slaine's eyes. The strength of a man–the faith of the child to lead the nations. He had believed in his dream of peace. All she had ever believed in was him.

"He has made peace. I never believed he could…but my battle is over now, Highness. All over, now."

"What about our battle–what about us? Slaine, I–"

A kiss silenced the Prince's lips. They did not move again, as Slaine straightened up, rotated his chair, and wheeled him towards the hanger.

Outside the window, tracers flew–flames burst and died. For a moment, Slaine thought them beautiful. Like the boy who had saved her life. The man who staked life on a duel, to bring her back. The Emperor who had finally condemned her to the death she deserved.

She felt empty. Peaceful. On the cusp of waking, from a long, terrible nightmare.

-0-

-0-

"Countess Troyard, what does this mean? We must contact Zebrin, Rafia, anyone that might support us–for the sake of Vers–!"

Slaine kept moving, to the centre of the main hanger; Barouhcruz tailed off as he saw her eyes. Harklight stood by his Herschel, ready.

"I have ordered all personnel to cease combat operations, and evacuate the Moonbase immediately. Count Barouhcruz, Sir Harklight; I must call on you to escort Prince Lemerius, Count Klancain, Astrid Treskow, and the others, to Castle Zebrin on Terra. Thank you, for your faith in me."

Harklight shut his eyes. Barouhcruz almost swelled with frustrated fury, but his plastic will dissolved before Slaine's eyes, like shadow in sunlight.

"Slaine?" Lemerius shook, as he rose from his chair, "You have to come with us–"

Slaine took his hand, helped the Prince to his feet. Then she sunk to her knees before him.

"I am sorry, Prince Lemerius, for all of the wrongs I have done you. I will pray with all my heart for your future happiness."

"No. No, no, no! We can still fight–I can still fight for you! Don't bundle me away like some Princess, Slaine! Don't go away from me, please–!"

Count Barouhcruz pushed Lemerius away, onto the Transport. Slaine remained on her knees, head bowed. Harklight watched her, still as an open grave.

In case of oxygen shortage, the Moonbase hospital stocked a painless nerve poison. When the last transport had rolled out, Slaine went to the empty command deck. Poured a glass of the wine from her dinner with Lemerius; watched the powder dissolve. She touched the pendant resting between her breasts, and breathed.

My Prince. Saazbaum. Daddy. I became a demon, for all your dreams…something pathetic and loathsome. I am sorry–and this is my only way to say it.

She raised the glass, towards the distant transports. And saw one red Kataphrakt turn back towards the UFE forces. The wine spilt, as she dashed to a radio.

"Harklight. I order you to turn around! Don't die for nothing!"

"Forgive me, my Lady, but I will not be. I can see the Orange Kataphrakt. I will destroy it, for your honour, and that is all I ask."

"Honour? My honour is nothing! Don't you know, you're–!" Then a gigantic Kataphrakt, in purple and gold, drifted from the Moonbase main hanger. It had a huge, spherical head, and eyes glowing green.

The Royal Olympus kataphrakt was equipped for Imperial broadcast. Again, the face of Asseylum Vers Allusia flashed to a hundred million screens. It dissolved–and Lemerius smiled mildly, on a twisted throne of iron.

-0-

-0-

"I am Prince Lemerius Ver Envers, son of Emperor Gilzeria, speaking from the cockpit of the Olympus. Your leader, for the past two years, in the war my brother was unable to wage. I apologise that I, too, have deceived you–as I was forced to deceive Count Saazbaum, and even Countess Troyard, my fiancé. But with my brother's treason, and usurpation, I willing step into the light.

"I tell you now that peace with the Terrans is treason against Vers itself! Our rights, our destiny, the needs of our people–all compel us to wrest the Earth from Old Humanity! It is our only path of advance. Our only way. My unworthy, faint-hearted brother, has never seen this–it was for the sake of Vers that I planned his death!

"Now, holding the power of a true Prince of Vers, I am headed to Terra. To avenge my father's death, on Old Humanity. My fiancé's scars, on every last one of them! All Knights who love their nation, follow me!"

Lemerius cut the broadcast. His breathing slowed, as he smiled back at the Moonbase. The needle-connectors itched at the back of his neck, and he felt rather scared; but he had expected that. Since childhood, he had dreamed alone; now he had to fight for his place. The Earth turned below him, like a painted egg.

"Well, then. That, I believe, is North America..." He gathered all hatred for the Terrans that had defied his love, and turned it lose.

Every human on the continent felt heat, as if an oven had opened up before their face.

"New Orleans is there…."

Buildings tumbled throughout the city. Burns sprang up on a thousand bodies.

"The power…ugh…seems to dissipate with range...and exhaust the wielder." Lemerius gasped, like a boxer in the ring. "Very well. Please, Slaine...watch me."

The Olympus knocked down a rocket from the Duecalion, with a brilliant shield of pure will. Its advance towards low Earth orbit did not slow.

-0-

-0-

"That's it. Ready the Scandia!" Rafia marched away from the screen where Prince Lemerius had appeared. Count Zebrin seized her arm.

"Rafia, if we attack the Terrans now, we will lose everything–"

"I'll support them alone, if I must! This is the time we must act!" It was like holding an angry wildcat, but Zebrin had trained in unarmed combat as well. He held her, and looked her in the eye.

"Do you imagine Countess Troyard could've been fooled so long? That boy isn't going to attack the Earth! He's going to commit suicide."

-0-

-0-

"Don't you have something else to deal with?" Kei danced through another web of lasers.

"My Lady will deal with the Olympus, if she so wishes. My fight is with the one who crushed her dreams in Central Asia!" Harklight tightened the Herschel's barrage; light flashed over his impassive face, "No more talk. Let's settle this, man to man."

"I suppose only men are this stupid! Ahh!" Kei threw her head back in pain, as she ditched the last of her missiles.

The cybernetic eye was going to blow her head apart like a grenade; but she could never have survived at less than its processing capacity. The Heschel was built for one-on-one. Calm had loaded her Sleipnir with missiles and blades, to face the Tharsis head on, but against Harklight, agility was her only fragile defence.

As the UFE force fell back headlong from the Olypmpus, Yuki and Inko sped to assist Kei. Stygis fighters quickly cut them off, cannons blazing. Another Areion fired on the Olympus, then ducked behind an asteroid. Lemerius's will to destroy the Kat passed through the rock like smoke, and blasted it to ash.

"Not yet…"

Kei realised she'd bitten through her lip. As she darted away from the Herschel, a single drone blew off her Kat's foot.

"Orange…you hadn't planned for this, I'll wager."

Harklight allowed himself to smile. Then he realised, far too late, that the Orange Kat had led him through the UFE force to the retreating Duecalion.

The battleship loomed behind him, missiles bursting out along its length. He blocked one with reserve drones, shot down one more of the whole broadside. A Stygis behind him exploded; he shut his eyes and breathed a name.

Then she caught him. Flung the Herschel out of the missile barrage; blasted the heat-seekers down at point-blank range. The white Tharsis and red Herschel spun through space, locked in each other's arms.

Slaine hologram appeared to Harklight, like a vision. She had leapt into the Tharsis still wearing the gown. Snowy hair on white shoulders. Her eyes lifted him up like the sea. The broken angel he would follow down to hell-still, always, beyond his reach.

"Why did you come, my Lady? For something like me?"

"Why did you ever serve me, Harklight? Knowing everything I've done?"

"I made a vow to save you, my Lady, on the day I first saw your face. I know I failed; I almost fell insane, as we left you behind, and let Barouhcruz take charge of the Prince. I could have prevented this, my Lady. But, please, even if you cannot forgive me, live! I...need you. I'm sorry..."

"Forgive you? You always forgave me, my Knight, you always saved me! I never understood, I chased a Prince so long...but without you, my world would fall apart, Sir Harklight. Alive or dead, I am yours."

"Excuse me?" Kei trained her cannon on the embracing mecha, "I said, we have something bigger to deal with–"

Behind her, a final broadside from the Deucalion burst on the Olympus's shields. A moment later, a bolt of light flashed out, and blew the space battleship in half.

-0-

-0-

"CALM!"

Tears flew from Kei's good eye. Her Sleipnir shot toward the Olympus's bulk.

"Sir Harklight, I order you to ensure the Stygis Fighters' safe retreat. If you don't come back, I will never forgive you."

"Yes, my Lady. I–" The Tharsis roared after the Sleipnir. With a desperate prayer, Harklight turned to the Stygis.

The Octantis advanced in the Olympus's wake, like a pilot fish. Full of triumph at his resource, Count Barouhcruz never saw the shells that Inko stitched through his left arm from behind. Three more Areions surrounded the Octantis, and quickly blew it apart.

The Olympus's huge round head rotated. Inko and another pilot dodged the blasts; the other two shattered like bottles of petrol.

Kei's shell slammed into the giant machine's back; what Lemerius didn't see, he could not will a shield against. However, the damage was insignificant, and her next shots never made contact. Kei wheeled away from the volley of beams that chased her. Fired on the Olympus again, until her gun clicked empty.

"Miss Orange? The mind-link feeds back the pilot's emotions and strengthens them! The more you attack the Prince, the less chance we have to talk him down!"

"Was that ever any chance, Batgirl?" Slaine was silent, "Asseylum might've been the one in there….why did Vers ever field this monster?"

"Ask why I never fielded it before, Orange! This is the true power of Aldnoah. The power that drives good men to madness."

"Good women too. Attack it by surprise-one chance, Bat."

"I will make certain of it. Miss Orange."

Eyes blazing green, the Olympus descended towards Earth. America sprawled below; within minutes, it would be burning.

Kei saw Vers Landing Castles rising up into orbit, ready to descend on cities below. The Orbital Knights had chosen their Prince, who would give them Earth.

It would be another Earthfall. The end of humanity on Terra, and of humanity in the Empire of Vers

-0-

-0-

Slaine launched the Tharsis towards the Olpympus. The white Kat drew level with the descending giant.

"Your Highness?" Her voice was quiet and strong, "You've done enough. You've shown your strength, and saved my honour. Now, please come back to me. You don't need to kill anyone else."

Lemerius lolled back on his throne. Paranoia and aggression smote at his mind like a forge. He tried to remember why he was killing.

"…they are your enemy, my love. All of the Terrans, all your enemies…I can protect you, Slaine! Nothing will hurt my love again!"

It was Lemerius's voice, but harsh; drunk with power. And like drink, Slaine knew, the mist would clear. As soon as the Prince stepped off the Olympus into the fields of corpses.

"Lemerius, my Prince. I love you as well. I fought to protect you, all that time–from a burden of blood like this. Like mine." Tears ran down her cheeks, "I'm sorry, my Prince. I couldn't give you the home you longed for, I only saw my own pain. But please, come back. Be my Prince! Not a murderer!"

"No…ugh…all for you, Slaine! All for you."

"…like me, my Prince. Monster. Ugly. Pitiful. Lost. Chained by war, and misery. A monster that must die, my Prince. Like me!"

Tears streaming, Slaine gunned her engines. The Tharsis drew a low around the giant Olympus. Bolts of aggression flashed out, but she dodged them, and they were weak. Then, with a scream as if her child had been torn from her breast, she launched the Tharsis directly at the head.

A shield of will would have smashed her like a bird on a windscreen, but there was no shield. Lemerius could not make a shield from his will to rule, to win, or even to live, because nothing in his heart was stronger than love.

A moment before the Tharsis tore through the Olypmus, into Prince Lemerius Vers Envers, he saw an escape pod detach. He smiled; shut his eyes.

Live, Slaine–your crimes die with me. I believe I could do anything for you, Slaine. That's how men are, when it comes to the woman they love.

-0-

-0-

There was confusion. Even a few final shots. The Empress-presumptive made another broadcast, promising that any Noble who broke the ceasefire would be degraded instantly. Hours later, the Landing Castles remained in their orbits.

A battered orange Sleipnir, and then the Hadrianicus, arrived long before to collect all the Deucalion's survivors. Asseylum was pale, but composed. Kei guided her own Sleipnir carefully towards a crude escape pod in low Earth orbit.

Within, Slaine Troyard clung to her knees. In the white dress of the Prince who had loved her, she howled out her guilt and her grief.

"LEMERIUS! Oh, my dear Lemerius! My Prince….I'm so sorry…sorry…"


	11. Towards Zero

**One month later**

"Well, we're here again, Captain. Just remember; you're the hero, she's the villain. I saw her kill the Olympus. But I still have to look at your face every day."

Captain Kaizuka Kei touched her sister's cheek. Her glass eye itched, as if trying to cry. Then she stepped from the car, and took the lift down to the special prison, in her kitten heels and UFE Blues.

She sat in the bright, bare room, with glass and guards behind her, armour-glass in front. And a hunched figure in blue, on the other side.

The chained tiger? No. A tiger skin, dead and emptied from within. Her hair had been shaved, again, to stop her tearing it out. Shadows ringed two eyes like blue-burning coal.

A checklist on sleeping and health brought no response. Kei sighed, and began to talk politics.

"–after the Olympus was fully destroyed, the Empress and Count Mazuurek announced immediately that Asseylum was responsible. He was acclaimed as a hero, the saviour of Versian honour– in a battered Sleipnir, no less. He has been uncontested as Emperor and true ruler, of Vers. Several Counts have already abandoned their conquests on Earth to save their Knighthoods. That is, those who prepared to attack the Earth with Prince Lemerius…" Sobs tore through glass; cries from a dying beast.

Within hours of capture, Slaine had torn up her dress and tried to hang herself. She had been deemed unfit to testify by the UE inquiry, which–Kei explained, because it had to be done–had laid sole blame for the Second Interplanetary War on Lemerius Vers Envers. The bastard prince; the great imposter.

"It's a lie. A lie…"

"He brought peace to Earth. It was the choice he made. We will always know the truth. And I think we both know what Lemerius Vers Envers truly died for."

" _He was sixteen_. Did you know that, Miss Orange? He was born in a jail. His life was nothing but a lie, but he still loved me, and I lied to him, and I KILLED HIM!" Guards dashed in and seized Slaine, before she could smash her head twice into the glass.

Next visit, red nail-scratches stood out on Slaine's bone-white arms; she did not speak. The next time, she asked eagerly when she would be shot.

"Tsehaye's murder. Hauksbey, Orga; killed tens of thousands. My fault."

"A tribunal will determine your culpability, in both cases. I have already testified that you destroyed the Olympus, essentially saving the world–the UFE officially credits Asseylum, but your trial will take the truth into account."

"Will they? What do I deserve but death? Saazbaum, my father. He trusted me, I killed him. My Prince. He saved me, I stole his name, I hurt him….so many times. You want to save me? I smashed your eye out!"

"It was war. I would've done the same."

"No. Lemerius! I knew, I always knew he was–"

"–an imposter? You would have rendered his death meaningless, if that were what you meant to say." Kei _flinched_ from the glare that seemed to answer her from inferno. She forged on, "You will not be shot, tortured or held beyond your eventual sentence. Emperor Asseylum has personally urged the tribunal to exercise clemency–"

"No. No, he cannot risk his position for me. Not for me! Let me tell them I killed Tsehaye! I smashed your eye out! This war, this peace of lies, all my fault! Let me bear the blame, not them!"

-0-

-0-

 **Two months later**

The glass screen was gone, and she had started taking food. But her eyes were the hollows of a skull; the guards said she hadn't slept for days. The chessboard Kei had brought was immovable; useless as everything else she had tried.

"Why won't you kill me? Said I wouldn't be tortured. But this is the worst I've known. Hate myself, more than anything I ever hated…and the weaker I get, the less I can hurt. Thousand years; I could never atone for it all. That's why you won't kill me, isn't it?"

"I think you know why. I truthfully don't believe your crimes could be atoned for; perhaps you will never be free from pain. As I can never amend my past choices, however I might wish. Honestly, I would have shot you down that day, if only for what you did to Asseylum. But when I saw him for the last time, he only asked one thing. 'Save Slaine Troyard. Save her from the chains of misery'."

"…stupid Orange. You knew I couldn't be saved, and _still_ …"

Slaine clung to her pendant–her gift of love and hope. She cried out grief and guilt, holding nothing back. Tears rolled free from her eyes like a never-failing stream.

 _My Prince. I'm sorry. Dear Lemerius. I'm sorry. Saazbaum, Cruhteo, Daddy... I'm sorry. I hurt you so much, there could never be justice…and I wouldn't believe in your forgiveness. I'm sorry. It just hurts so much…living on through your grace._

"…I'm sorry. Captain Kaizuka." Kei bowed her head, then rose, "You're just like…Harklight. Please–where is Sir Harklight? How fares my Knight?"

-0-

-0-

As Yuki drove Kei from the prison in peaceful silence, her phone buzzed. She had missed two calls from former Space Battleship pilot Nina Klein.

"Hello, Nina. I was in a restricted area until now. What…? _Calm?_ "

Yuki's eyebrows shot up. Kei listened in stock stillness.

The sole survivor of the Deucalion's engineering crew had been on the bridge when Lemerius blasted the spaceship in half. All weapon systems, the main hold, and virtually all support crew had been obliterated. But Calm Craftman had been invited onto the bridge, by Nina, to watch his 'incredible darling' Kei in action.

The bridge crew had all bailed out in spacesuits, and made it to the Hadrianicus. Commander Magbaredge had tried to go down with his ship, but Kisaki, Yotaro and Calm had dragged him out. Kei had heard he was still on leave, drowning his shame in whiskey, but hadn't Marito been helping him…?

"…Calm came to my flat, two in the morning yesterday. He said he'd been with the Commander, and I'm certain he was completely drunk. You know he lost his all his friends, when the Duecalion…anyway, he kept saying he was alone, he was no good, I said it wasn't true, and…I swear to you he didn't hurt me, but I was so scared, I hurt _him_."

"Nina...I'm sorry. What do you want me to do?"

"Help him, of course!"

"But didn't he try to…?"

"I told you, he was drunk! And afterwards he cried into my shoelaces, passed out on the floor, and woke up screaming his head off. I'm sorry, Kei…you were the only one he cried out for who wasn't dead. As your friend, and _his_ friend, I'll support whatever you want to do."

"Nina…one day I will make them put up a statue to you."

"Best Friends Forever?" Inko broke in over the phone.

"Forever…"

"…and ever…"

"…and to the end of infinity." After Kei hung up, she told Yuki to head for the airport.

"Um, meeting with the UE Council? On Asseylum's state visit, next month?"

"I had nothing original to contribute anyway. While _this_ –only I can do, unless I'm already too late."

-0-

-0-

 **Three months later**

There had been tears, mainly from Calm, and angry words, mainly from Yuki. Finally, after much pleading, she had helped Kei choose the restaurant and the dress. Kei wore a simple black gown, with her hair loosed from its usual ponytail; she sat opposite Calm Craftman at their candlelit dinner. Lights glowed sparsely in the darkness of the window, like floating lanterns.

Once again, she faced somebody she cared for desperately across a table. He still looked the same freckle-cheeked ploughboy, but his smile was no longer without effort.

"Kei…you look beautiful."

"T-thanks, but there are more necessary matters we must talk about."

Calm sighed. "I'm sorry, Kei. There's no excuse, I can't ever–"

"My turn. I'm sorry, Calm. I let you wait for me, two years. Then I was gone, when you needed me most."

"No. You had a world to save. All those secret meetings, Troyard, the Emperor–"

"I forgot the world when Nina called me. You did all that you could to save me. Now, I am going to save you. I could save the woman who rendered my face asymmetrical–don't be afraid that I will ever let you go."

Calm was stunned–adorably so–and Kei had meant to save it for their third date–but her fingers were joined to his on the table. No act of hers had felt quite so delicate. Secure. Marvellous.

"Nina…?"

"She forgives you. She's completely fine with us."

"Kei…I'm not worth it…"

"That's not true. That's why I want you to leave the commander to Marito, and see Yagarai about your nightmares, asap. You can drink, but only with somebody who knows. Also, I want you to leave the military. Lt Mizusaki knows some old classmates in civilian contractors."

"Well…okay. I wasn't going back to school or anything–but do you mean there's going to be another war–?"

"Oh no, at least not yet. No, we just need to evade the military fraternization rules."

"Do you mean–you really–?"

"Yes, didn't I say so? Well…I believe that I love you, and I couldn't be happy with another boy in the universe. I was just never going to give my career up to be your housewife."

"Yes, Captain Kaizuka, Ma'am!"

"Um, Calm…" Kei suddenly looked away, fidgeting with her handbag, "Did that sound 'girlfriend'-ish enough? I haven't got much experience of this. You're a strong, quite intelligent man–we will have to work out some things, but I really am physically attracted to you…" She smiled ruefully, as her boyfriend laughed into his hand.

"Oh, I love you, Kei. Just never change." Calm smiled his old smile. Kei's schedule jumped to Date Nine. Once they were alone…what would a kiss feel like?

They could spend all her time working out this thing called love, that brought the world to such despair or joy. And there would be no war, assassination or kidnapping to disturb them–at least outside her professional life.

Soldiers, Yuki had told her once, fought for those who couldn't fight for themselves. For the life she had been given in a half-broken world, she would save everybody she could.

-0-

-0-

"…yes, following my goodwill State Visit, Versian embassies will be established to major UFE centres. A defensive line against error and misunderstanding."

"One can only hope so, your Majesty. But is that person the _safest_ candidate for the role of cultural attaché?"

"Observe his record. Does he look the type to betray his country for a woman?"

"With respect, Majesty, you haven't met him…but no matter. He would have probably suffered a fatal accident, had he stayed on Vers and continued to stir up discontent."

Count Klancain smiled in the holographic sunlight. Without containing so much as a blade of grass or drop of water, the new palace garden was a replica of the one on Castle Troyard.

"It is a beautiful place, is it not? Earth."

"Yet we are on Mars, your Majesty. That was once as green, and may be again. All the same, I must suggest that the time is not right for Dr Troyard's research to be continued."

"It promises universal Aldnoah Activation, Klancain. Universal and heritable. An awakening of human potential. An end to the inequality that renders power precarious–"

"–civil war, your Majesty. On an airless snowball without food or atmosphere, inequality is the only government possible."

"Do you want more of the new trade goods? More than the nobles receive _already_?"

"Not so shortsighted, Highness. Feudalism today and forever." Klaincan took up his walking-cane, and left the garden.

Emperor Asseylum stared down at the table full of documents and minutiae before him. It never seemed to end, and the silence when it did felt worse. What was the Empress doing? Oh yes, a formal soiree with the influential Countess Rastapapodopolis. What was Miss Kaizuka doing now? Miss Troyard?

His Empire revered him as the hero who defeated his evil brother, wiping out the stain on Versian honour. When the truth came out, and one day it would, they would be war. Not necessarily between Earth and Vers though.

"Girls of Earth. When are you going to come rescue me?"

-0-

-0-

 **Six months later**

"You're…an attaché?"

"My Lady. That seems to be the case."

Slaine clutched at her pendant, as if ready to collapse with joy. She gently laid her forehead on the armour-glass screen. Harklight laid his neat-combed head against hers. He tried to ask how she had been treated, but she raised a finger.

"I'm afraid I can offer you nothing, now. I even feel like a different person, sometimes…but you encouraged me when I was only a Terran Knight, didn't you? For the future of Vers? My pretty face?"

"For your beautiful spirit, my Lady. And you've never looked more beautiful."

Her eyes were bright, pain-filled but living, like tropical seas in her white, furrowed skin. Harklight could barely imagine ever looking away from them.

"I can offer you nothing, but myself. Do you truly wish to stay with me?" Nod, "Then, Sir Harklight–you know what only you can do to save me."

-0-

-0-

 **Eighteen months later**

He warned her the first time would hurt, even if he was very gentle. Both of were terrified that her body's past would reject his lips. But she was used to pain, and determined to face her fear. This would be good pain, hallowing every blow and lash she had bourn to reach it.

"So many scars…how can you say I'm beautiful?"

"Under the scars. A Countess might trade her title for your body."

She lay back on the bed. He stood there, looked on her, and started to pull off his tie.

"You looked good in a suit. Husband."

"…Slaine. Tell me to stop if you feel–"

"…I'm afraid, now. Like war never made me afraid–but I want this, Jean Harklight. Come here."

He came to her. Laid gentle fingers between her naked ribs. The muscles of his tall, lean frame showed in his chest. But the care and devotion in his eyes burnt her up like a laser. Then, finally, he smiled with her and kissed her face. Every inch.

He hadn't wanted their first time to be in prison–but she had a shrewd idea it actually turned him on. She was helpless to get away, after all. His ex-Countess, writhing at the mercy...the pendant danced between their chests.

"Oh…! Mmm. Is it good as in your dreams, my Knight?"

"…better. And I'm…ah…afraid I dreamed rather a lot. Ah… -, you're _exquisite_!"

"Hold me. Everywhere. Oh, Jean…I am _your lady_."

Even after a secret video-conference marriage, it had taken Captain Kaizuka some time to get Slaine conjugal visits. Even for the prisoner who had saved Earth from the Olympus, it would have been impossible–without Harklight passing non-military intelligence to the UFE, regarding scandals and abuses among the nobility. He had survived one drive-by attempt from the 37 Clans already–one more, he had promised Slaine, and he would seek asylum on Earth.

The loss of Countess Troyard, and his brief experience as a court flunkey on Mars, had persuaded Harklight that he could no longer hope to liberate the Third Class through the nobility. The soldiers of Vers had passed through a bitter war of uncertain purpose, infinitely more difficult than they'd been led to expect. The trade goods gained thereby would only benefit the nobility. A great many had ended the war in prison camps; large numbers had applied for asylum themselves.

Since arriving on Earth, Harklight had worked to secretly inform them of Versian failings, and Earth's freedoms. His converts had trickled back to Mars, and those that stayed on Earth could send them support. He had even convinced Terrans of the Third Class's suffering, until they were demanding aid and justice for their erstwhile invaders.

"Five years." Slaine whispered, spread over him like a blanket in the plain cell, "Then parole. I can only endure it because of you. Then we can have children, and you'll change Vers forever…I'll be supporting you this time."

"While the nobility control Aldnoah, they hold the people's lives in their hands. We may not even live to see the beginning of change, Slaine. I only hope, when the chance comes, that our people will be ready to seize it."

"My way was too hasty, wasn't it? Too violent…I thought of ends too much, and not enough about my means. I really failed you, didn't I? And Lemerius…sorry! He was such a sweet boy…" Harklight held her to his chest. "He died to free us. Bearing my sins away. In this life he gave me…for his memory, I will always bear this pain."

"Slaine, my love….you did all you could. I never did. I may never forgive myself, that I didn't stop you from making that broadcast–"

"Well, I forgive you. Now, tell me your fantasies. Let's make them true together."

-0-

-0-

 **Seventeen years later**

"Mama? Wake up."

Slaine's eyelids fluttered, against the glare of Aldnoah lighting. A pale-haired little girl was looking up at her, hands on hips.

"Sorry, darling. Mama worked a little too late last night…"

"You went to Madam Rasta-thingumee's party, and fell asleep in a chair, in your dress. At least Papa _really_ spends all the time working."

"My work is a little different from Papa's, dearest. I have to introduce certain people, suggest certain things, smooth over unpleasantness, and make sure our beloved development minister still has a kingdom left to develop. I don't even get paid…but my real work is you, and your brothers. I can tell from your eyes you don't believe me…don't you remember our promise?"

"We would never, ever lie to each other. And you would always be there for me when it mattered."

The girl would never forget her mother's face as she had spoken those words. She deigned fit to let Slaine take her hand, as they went to her brothers' nursery. The girl touched the door as she left–a pulse of her Aldnoah energy flicked it shut, and switched off the lights.

Some of the palace had been damaged in the civil war; the cavernous remainder had been converted to various official residences and functions. The application of Dr Troyard's theories had activated Aldnoah in every human on Mars; the nobility had been finished. There had been much talk of consigning them to the ice mines or an open airlock–but Slaine had fought for the path of mercy, and won it for them.

Emperor Asseylum had supported the reformers against the conservatives; he retained some power but with a smaller residence, and rather more free time. Slaine wondered if they would have a few hours to recall the past, one of these days.

There was so much to do, when the economy depended as completely on Aldnoah as any Arab state on oil. The mining expeditions to Jupiter were still a distant prospect, and there was still so much to be changed.

"Mama, d'you want to look at the birds, again?"

"Those old holograms?"

" _Well_ , you like them…" One glance of the soft blue eyes, that never flinched at her scars, and Slaine's world seemed a perfect dream. "Mama? Can you ride a kataphakt? I heard the servants say you had a huge fight in space, against that Terran general with the eyepatch on the holo-vision? Was that a lie?"

"…we didn't fight in space, darling. We made friends in space."

"Will you tell me what you did in the war one day, Mama?"

"One day, dear Lemrina." Slaine squeezed her hand, "And I promise I will protect you. My little Princess."

-0-

-0-

 _"So was Slaine Troyard a hero? Or a villain?"_

 _"She told me once, she was poisoned wine. A glass might hold twenty mils of goodness, and the smallest drop of evil–it is poisonous, and deadly."_

 _"Then why did you help her, Kei?"_

 _"Somewhere, I realised that all humans are poisoned glasses. Whether we have killed or lied, couldn't trust an enemy, or couldn't be there for our friends–all of us need a saviour. Her tragedy was that she never found hers, not that she searched. At least, all of us need forgiveness."_


End file.
